Inmate is accused of plotting murder of federal judge overseeing his terrorism case
An inmate in Toledo, Ohio, awaiting trial on a charge of providing material support to terrorists has been charged with plotting the contract killing of the federal judge overseeing his case.
Yahya Farooq Mohammad, 37, is accused of offering to pay an undercover agent for the slaying of U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary, the Toledo Blade, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) and the Columbus Dispatch report.
Mohammad is a citizen of India who studied electrical engineering at Ohio State University, according to the Dispatch. He was extradited to the United States from the United Arab Emirates last year and accused of conspiring to travel to Yemen to provide cash for terrorism.
The indictment alleges Mohammad told an inmate he would pay $15,000 to have Zouhary killed, and the inmate tipped off authorities. The undercover agent received a down payment from Mohammad’s wife in May 2016 at a post office in Bolingbrook, Illinois, according to the indictment.
The undercover agent later showed Mohammad’s wife a photo and said it pictured Zouhary’s dead body. Mohammad’s wife said she would contact her husband, the indictment says.
Mohammad is represented by Chicago lawyer Thomas Durkin. “We intend to vigorously contest these highly orchestrated and preposterous charges in court, rather than in the media,” he told the National Law Journal.
