Federal Agents

A Baltimore-area man will face up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in connection with a failed terrorist plot to blow up a Catonsville military recruiting center in December 2010. Antonio Benjamin Martinez, 22, who also goes by the name Muhammad Hussain, had also been charged with attempting to murder federal officials, but he pleaded not guilty to that count in a deal with federal prosecutors. His sentencing is set for April 6 in Maryland U.S. District Court.

On its face, this strikes me as a pretty good idea: Allow police or federal agents to use the "ping" signal or GPS in a suspect's cell phone to track him down and execute a warrant for his arrest. This seems like a reasonable and even wise use of "location technology. " It would likely save time and money, and give cops and marshals another tool in their efforts to bring the accused to the bar presto, pronto, post-haste. But not so fast. Magistrate Judge Susan K. Gauvey, of the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, just issued an exhaustive, 139-page opinion on this matter, saying it is no small matter - and raising the large matter of the Fourth Amendment.

From the street the faded, yellow house on Belair Road looks unassuming. Three large picture windows overlook a community recreation center and an elementary school. It's around the corner from a community baseball diamond. On one recent visit, a small American flag lay discarded on the front lawn, along with a few scattered cigarette butts. A metal pipe protrudes above a side door. Before the police raided this house, prosecutors said the pipe held a surveillance camera placed there by the operators that recorded the number of men who passed through the entrance, and helped monitor the women working inside.

A 32-year-old Baltimore attorney pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing child pornography, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office. Patrick Joseph Redd, who was disbarred "by consent" in March, will be sentenced to 24 to 37 months in federal prison if the court accepts his plea deal. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 20 in Baltimore U.S. District Court. Federal agents raided Redd's Rodgers Forge home two years ago, seizing a computer that was later found to have 11 images of minors engaged in sexual activity, according to court records, which claim Redd purposely searched for and downloaded the images.

For weeks, federal agents say, they had Antonio Martinez under surveillance, watching as he pulled up jihadist videos on computers in Baltimore County libraries and posted Facebook messages urging holy war on nonbelievers. The agents tracked his every move, the hours he spent staring at the screen, his comings and goings. On Dec. 7, the night before Martinez — he prefers the name Muhammad Hussain — embarked on what the agents say was an attempt to attack the Armed Forces Career Center in Catonsville, he wrote via Facebook to a man he believed was helping him but who was an undercover FBI agent.

A 39-year-old man was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Monday for selling cocaine in West Baltimore after agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration intercepted drugs and a package containing more than $250,000 in cash. A jury convicted Gregory Alfred Whyte, also known as "Manny," after a six-day trial in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Prosecutors said he was given a harsher sentence because he tried to intimidate a witness into recanting his testimony. The case began when federal agents in Los Angeles intercepted a refrigerator that was being sent to an address on North Fulton Avenue in Baltimore.

Federal agents arrested a 66-year-old Maryland man Tuesday, claiming that his life was a lie. William G. Hillar of Millersville said he is an Army Special Forces retired colonel who's traveled the world fighting terrorism and advising foreign military organizations. He claims to have a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education and a doctorate in health education. And he frequently speaks out against human trafficking, claiming in marketing materials that his only daughter was kidnapped, forced into the sex industry and killed — a story that became the basis, he has said, for the 2008 film "Taken," starring Liam Neeson.

Antonio Martinez, who is accused of masterminding a failed jihadist plot to bomb a Catonsville military center, pleaded not guilty Friday to a two-count indictment charging him with the attempted murder of federal employees and the attempted use of a "weapon of mass destruction. " The 21-year-old Baltimore man, who has been in custody since his arrest a month ago, could receive life in prison if convicted on both counts, as well as a fine of up to $500,000. Martinez, who prefers to be known as Muhammad Hussain, confessed to plotting the attack after it was foiled Dec. 8 by investigators posing as accomplices, prosecutor Christine Manuelian said in court last month.

The tactics used by federal agents to befriend a young man professing jihadist sentiments — and to help him plot an attack on a military recruiting center in Catonsville — are becoming more common nationwide. But even as such cases raise questions about entrapment, legal experts say most defendants have a hard time convincing juries that they were unfairly targeted. "Entrapment is a very difficult defense," University of Maryland law professor Michael Milleman said, a day after 21-year-old Antonio Martinez was accused of plotting to blow up the Armed Forces Career Center on Baltimore National Pike.