Miami

Honduran Set for Guilty Plea in Dolphin Mall Bomb Plot Case

A federal judge has set a change of plea hearing Wednesday for 53-year-old Vicente Adolfo Solano

What to Know

  • A federal judge has set a change of plea hearing Wednesday for 53-year-old Vicente Adolfo Solano
  • The FBI says Solano wanted to detonate a bomb last October at the Dolphin Mall near Miami
  • Court documents indicate Solano will plead guilty to a count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization

Court documents show a Honduran man is set to plead guilty in a plot to bomb a busy South Florida mall food court in support of the Islamic State extremist group.

A federal judge has set a change of plea hearing Wednesday for 53-year-old Vicente Adolfo Solano, who previously pleaded not guilty. Court documents indicate Solano will plead guilty to a single count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

The FBI says Solano wanted to detonate a bomb last October at the Dolphin Mall near Miami, but was working with undercover FBI operatives who gave him a fake bomb before his arrest.

The FBI also says Solano made videos of himself wearing black and in a black mask saying he wanted to plant a bomb to show his support for the Islamic State.

Prosecutors said Solano, who is a citizen of Honduras and in the U.S. under temporary protected status, first mentioned his disdain and dislike for the country to an undercover informant around election time in November 2016.

Around March 2017, Solano changed his name on Facebook to "Abad" and posted "I am Abad son of Allah. May our black flag live on and may we continue with our battles," prosecutors said.

Despite Solano's claims of Islamic State sympathies, the FBI says no links to terrorist groups were found.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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