Author: Cindy George
Publication: Houston Chronicle
Date: April 19, 2007
URL: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/4731058.html
Former Houston resident Daniel Joseph Maldonado
pleaded guilty today to participating in an al-Qaida training camp in East
Africa, federal prosecutors said.
Maldonado, 28, was the first American charged
in connection with an attempt to establish an extremist Islamic state in Somalia.
He also used the name Daniel Aljughaifi, the
U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Maldonado, who was charged with receiving
training from a foreign terrorist organization, agreed to plead guilty to
the government's criminal complaint in exchange for an agreement that prosecutors
would not file any other charges against him, said Assistant U.S. Attorney
Abe Martinez.
Details of the agreement are not available
because it is sealed.
Federal officials would not comment on whether
Maldonado has provided information that will lead to other terrorism arrests
and prosecutions.
Maldonado is scheduled to be sentenced on
June 29. He could be ordered to prison for as long as 10 years.
Maldonado, a Muslim convert and blogger under
the name Daniel Aljughaifi, came to Houston from Boston for a short time in
2005 to work for the Houston-based IslamicNetwork.com, a Web site frequented
by terrorism suspects.
A few months later, he and his wife, Tamekia,
moved to Egypt with their two children. His wife, who had the couple's third
child in Egypt, died overseas of malaria.
While fleeing Somalia in January, Maldonado
was captured by Kenyan soldiers who turned him over to FBI agents for interviews.
During that time, he penned statements in
which he confessed going to training camps to prepare for jihad, or holy war.
Maldonado was brought back to Houston by U.S.
officials in February.
