A Miami man who posted pipe bomb instructions on the internet for people he believed to be followers of an Islamic terrorist group faces up to 15 years in prison, U.S. authorities said Monday.
Samuel Baptiste, 29, pleaded guilty Friday to attempting to provide material support to terrorists, namely ISIS in the Middle East.
Baptiste reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and avoided a potential sentence of up to 115 years if he had been convicted at trial of six terrorism-related changes, including distributing information on how to make explosives.
According to court records, Baptiste attempted to provide material support to ISIS in late 2016 by posting information on the internet with links to information about explosive devices, including a bomb-making manual. Federal prosecutors say Baptiste posted and distributed online documents titled “Instructions: How to Make a Homemade Pipe Bomb,” “Pipe Bombs,” “Improvised Explosive Devices,” and “Improvised Munitions Black Book, Volume 1.”
The FBI case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marc S. Anton and Michael Thakur.
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