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NYC Terror Suspect's Mom Apologizes

Son Jose Pimentel changed after conversion to Islam, she says

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 22, 2011 5:03 AM CST

(Newser) – The mother of a Manhattan suspect accused of plotting a bombing campaign wants the city to know that she's sorry. “I want to apologize to the city of New York," Carmen Sosa told reporters. “I love the city. I’ve been here since 1987 and I’m very disappointed with what my son was doing. I didn’t raise him that way. I feel very bad about the situation. I thank the police. They did what they’re supposed to do."

Sosa say her son, Jose Pimentel, 27, who was born in the Dominican Republic but raised in New York, began behaving differently after converting to Islam five years ago, the New York Daily News reports. She moved him to the city in 2010 after she "didn't like the way he was acting" in Schenectady, NY; he had been living upstate for about five years. "My son was a normal American guy. He did what young people do. Then he became a Muslim and he changed," she said, adding, "I'm Catholic. I believe in God. I don't support the Muslims." She says Pimentel, believed to be a "lone wolf" al-Qaeda sympathizer, has a 4-year-old son who lives with his ex-wife.

Jose Pimentel, 27, right, represented by attorney Joseph Zablocki, left, is arraigned at Manhattan criminal court, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, in New York.
Jose Pimentel, 27, right, represented by attorney Joseph Zablocki, left, is arraigned at Manhattan criminal court, Sunday, Nov. 20, 2011, in New York.   (AP Photo/Jefferson Siegel, Pool)
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COMMENTS
Showing 2 of 9 comments
Spudsy
Nov 22, 2011 8:43 AM CST
"began behaving differently after converting to Islam five years ago"  ---  Converting to anything other than atheism should be seen as a sign of a troubled mind by parents and society.  It's the equivalent of saying "I'm hearing voices in my head and if I talk back to them, they listen". 
JackNelsonSteward
Nov 22, 2011 7:07 AM CST
Are you aware of the F.B.I.'s assessment of Mr. Pimental? "In the task force, investigators were concerned that the case raised some entrapment questions, two people said. They added that some investigators wondered whether Mr. Pimentel had the even small amount of money or technical know-how necessary to produce a pipe bomb on his own, had he not received help from the informer. " New York Times "The FBI did not pursue a case against an alleged al-Qaida sympathiser accused of plotting to blow up police and military personnel because it believed he was mentally unstable and incapable of pulling it off, officials said on Monday." The Guardian In other words, law enforcement took a clueless moke and showed him how to make a device and then busted him when he started to make it. The guy's been "on the radar" for at least two years, actually recorded in some 400 hours of sound, including smoking dope with the informant. And the NYPD "busted" him, just HOURS after it swept "Occupy" out of the park and was taking a shit storm of criticism for their handling of that action. <-SQUIRREL!!!!->

 
New York City • terror suspects • al-Qaeda • homegrown terrorists • Jose Pimentel

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