NEW YORK
The son of a U.S. police captain was arrested and charged Monday in a plot to engage in terrorism on university campuses on behalf of Daesh, according to the Justice Department.
Alexander Ciccolo, 23, had recently been speaking about plans to commit acts of terrorism including setting off pressure cookers filled with black powder, nails, ball bearings and glass in places like college cafeterias, unsealed court documents revealed.
He was charged with felony possession of firearms, a sentence that may carry 10 years in prison, the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts said.
In his apartment in the town of Adams, FBI agents found several Molotov cocktails that contained shredded Styrofoam soaking in motor oil, that the suspect had allegedly said would cause more damage to victims and make it harder to put the fire out, court documents said.
"Prior to his arrest, agents had observed Ciccolo purchase a pressure cooker similar to that used in the Boston Marathon bombings", according to an affidavit filed in a Boston federal court, referring to the April 2013 attack that killed three victims and injured more than 260 others in one of the world’s most prestigious road races.
Ciccolo’s father, Boston police captain Robert Ciccolo, turned his son in to authorities after he made "alarming comments", CNN said, citing a law enforcement source.
In the fall of 2014, the FBI became aware that the suspect had expressed a desire to go overseas to fight for Daesh, court documents said, that added, "According to a close acquaintance, the defendant had a long history of mental illness."
Ciccolo is scheduled to have a detention hearing Tuesday afternoon in the city of Springfield.
