Police officer's son pleads guilty to terrorist bomb plot
The son of a Boston police captain pleaded guilty Monday to plotting to use guns and homemade bombs to attack a college campus to support the Islamic State group, three years after his arrest after his father alerted the FBI.
Alexander Ciccolo's guilty plea comes a month before he was scheduled to go to trial. He faces 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in September.
Ciccolo was arrested in July 2015 after he received four guns he ordered from a person who was cooperating with the FBI. Boston police Capt. Robert Ciccolo tipped off authorities after his son said he wanted to join the Islamic State group.
Federal authorities said Ciccolo's case is a reminder that 'homegrown' radicalization remains a threat and that citizens must speak up when they become aware of a potential threat.
"Any material support of a terrorist organization threatens our national security, and had Mr. Ciccolo's efforts to advance his agenda not been thwarted by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, countless lives could have been lost in a lethal terrorist attack," Harold Shaw, special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston field office, said in a statement.
