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Man arrested at Bozeman shooting range denies lying to FBI in terrorism investigation

Posted at 4:26 PM, May 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-06 23:44:57-04

On Monday, 21-year-old Fabjan Alameti, of New York City, pleaded not guilty to charges that he made false statements to the FBI in a terrorism investigation, according to U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme.

A four-count indictment charges Alameti with three counts of false statements to a federal officer in a matter involving terrorism and one count of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch conducted the arraignment and ordered Alameti be detained pending further proceedings. A detention hearing is set for May 15.

Federal agents first interviewed Alameti in May 2018 at his former residence in Bronx, N.Y., as part of a terrorism investigation, according to a probable cause statement from FBI Agent Matthew J. Deurmeier. He acknowledged he used a Facebook account under the name “Fabjan Alamati” and smoked marijuana.

In January, an FBI informant told authorities he’d noticed pro-ISIS comments on Facebook groups from the account identified as Alameti’s, according to court documents.

The informant began messaging Alameti, who wrote that he wanted to travel to Syria to fight ISIS and had once considered attacks on public buildings in the United States, according to court documents.

In March, the FBI obtained a search warrant for messages Alameti allegedly exchanged with another person on Facebook in Albanian, which indicated his desire to obtain explosive to attack civilian targets, according to the court documents.

This was around the time he said in the messages that he had bought a ticket to Bozeman, prosecutors said. He indicated that he felt it was easier to buy guns in Montana than in New York, according to court documents.

Alameti has been in custody since April 3, 2019, when FBI agents arrested him at a shooting range in Bozeman after he allegedly took possession of an M1A firearm he had rented.

If convicted of the most serious crime, Alameti faces a maximum 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Starnes and Trial Attorney Rebecca Magnone, from the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, are prosecuting the case, which was investigated by the FBI.

RELATED: Man accused of lying to FBI about alleged ties to Islamic terrorists arrested in Bozeman