I support this deal because the authorities told me Nicholas Rovinski has left Islam and returned to Catholicism. The media is hiding this but it is a key point.
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The government is working on a plea agreement with Rovinski, solely in order to ensure that he serves a lengthy sentence. There is a significant difference between Rovinski and his fellow jihad conspirator, David Wright: Rovinski came into the plot later in time, and played less of a role. The deal requires him to receive a sentence of at least 15 years.
The maximum sentence for aiding ISIS is 20 years. The first count in Rovinski’s case involves the initial charge against him: conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.
In conversations that were recorded by law enforcement officials, Rovinski says very little. David Wright who faces a life sentence was the ringleader. Usaamah Rahim, a member of a very religious family and was devout himself
In the conversations between these three Muslims, David Wright speaks constantly. Rovinski is hardly heard.
Bottom line. If it were up to me these people would be designated enemy combatants. This is not a law enforcement issue. This is war. But until we get a Commander-in-Chief who understands this, we have to go with what we’ve got.
Here is the Boston Globe’s account. Despite the fact that the plot was to behead me but Milton Valencia (email: milton.valencia@globe.com) never asked me for comment.
“IS supporter to plead guilty in US court,” by Milton J. Valencia, Boston Globe, September 20, 2016:
One of the men charged earlier this year with supporting the terror group ISIS and conspiring to recruit others to a “martyrdom operations cell” has agreed to plead guilty in federal court in Boston.
Nicholas Alexander Rovinski, 25, of Warwick, RI, was charged in June 2015 with conspiracy to support ISIS. He was later indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and obstruction of justice, and faces life in prison. He is slated to plead guilty Thursday.
His lawyer, William Fick, said in a statement that Rovinski “is a vulnerable young man who fell deep into a rabbit hole of extremist ideology.”
“Although he never hurt anyone, Nicholas is prepared to accept responsibility for the conspiracy crimes charged and to face the grave penalties that will follow,” said Fick, of the law firm Fick & Marx LLP in Boston. “Nicholas has unequivocally renounced violence and disavowed any sympathy for [ISIS]. Nicholas hopes he will have opportunities in the future to help others reject twisted ideas and avoid making the same mistakes he did.”…
Rovinski and another man, David Daoud Wright, 26, of Everett, were charged following the fatal shooting by police of Usaamah Abdullah Rahim, 26, who was Wright’s uncle.
Authorities say Rahim attacked police in a Roslindale parking lot with a military knife when they sought to question him about a plot to kill police officers. Wright and Rovinski were ensnared in that investigation; authorities said they had also discussed a plan to behead anti-Islam activist Pamela Geller.
A new indictment unsealed earlier this year alleges the three men tried to recruit members for their “martyrdom” operation. In March 2015, for instance, Wright allegedly drafted organizational documents for a “martyrdom operations cell” and conducted Internet searches about firearms, the effectiveness of tranquilizers on humans, and the establishment of secret militias in the United States.
Prosecutors allege Wright also obtained a jihadist manual that detailed “how to become a sleeper-cell” in the West until ready to carry out an attack, according to the indictment.
During that time, Rahim was communicating with ISIS members overseas, including Junaid Hussain. He was killed in an airstrike in Raqqah, Syria, in August 2015.
Hussain, an English-speaking ISIS member, had used Twitter and other social media to encourage supporters to carry out attacks in the United States and Europe against those who do not follow Islam. According to the authorities, Hussain had instructed Rahim to kill Geller in New York, and Rahim passed those instructions to Wright.
Authorities also said that Rovinski has continued since his arrest to plot an attack and has written letters to Wright from prison, discussing ways to take down the US government and decapitate those who do not follow Islam.