Guide Note

June 23, 2008: A judge sentenced Levar Washington to 22 years in federal prison in connection with a terrorist plot to attack U.S. military institutions, Jewish facilities and other sites in the Los Angeles, California, area. The 30-year-old Islam convert was recruited into a domestic terrorist group while serving time in a state prison.¹

Fast Facts

1. Washington one of four men indicted in 2005
2. Pleaded guilty to charges in December 2007
3. Two other men pleaded guilty: Gregory Patterson and Kevin James²
4. Patterson expected to be sentenced in July 2008²
5. James expected to be sentenced in February 2009²
6. Hammad Samana found incompetent to stand trial²
7. Defendants arrested after a string of gas station robberies³
8. Authorities say money from robberies meant to finance terror plot³
9. Targets included the Israeli Consulate and the Los Angeles International Airport⁴

Prosecutors say Kevin James formed the radical Islamic terrorist group JIS, or or Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, while he was an inmate at the California State Prison in Sacramento. Authorities believe James then recruited fellow prisoners Levar Washington, Gregory Patterson and Hammad Samana into the group. All four men were accused of plotting to attack U.S. military facilities, Israeli offices and Jewish synagogues.³