SANTA ANA — A Santa Monica College student who helped a radical prison-based Islamic militant group that plotted “war” against the U.S. government and targeted Israel supporters was sentenced Monday to 70 months in federal prison.
Hammad Samana of Inglewood was the last of the four members of the group, Jam’iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS, to be convicted and sentenced for their involvement, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Samana was a “lesser character” in the plot to wage war against the United States through acts of terrorism, Mrozek said.
Samana researched targets and prepared a “Modes of Attack” plan, which listed the Los Angeles International Airport and the “Consulate of Zion,” as well as army recruitment centers, prosecutors said.
The document also listed a “military base in Manhattan Beach” and “Campsite of Zion.”
Two of the cell’s members robbed about a dozen gas stations in 2005 to finance the attacks throughout the Los Angeles area, prosecutors said.
Kevin James, 32, who authorities said founded JIS in prison in 1997, pleaded guilty in 2007 and was sentenced in March to 16 years in federal prison.
Levar Washington, 31, was sentenced in June 2008 to 22 years in prison and Gregory Patterson, 25, of Gardena was sentenced in July 2008 to 151 months in prison.
