Mich. prosecutor dropping terror case

[struggle4progress]

Aug. 16, 2006, 6:57PM

By SARAH KARUSH Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

BAY CITY, Mich. — Three Palestinian-American men who were found with nearly 1,000 cell phones were charged Wednesday with federal fraud conspiracy and money laundering after a county prosecutor backed off from terrorism charges filed earlier.

Maruan Muhareb, 18; Adham Othman, 21; and Louai Othman, 23, all of the Dallas area, were charged in Bay City with conspiracy to defraud consumers and telephone providers by trafficking in counterfeit goods. They also were charged with money laundering on suspicion that they used proceeds from the counterfeit cell phone transactions to buy more phones.

Magistrate Judge Charles Binder ordered the men held at least until a detention hearing Friday. They were arrested last Friday after buying dozens of cell phones at a Wal-Mart store in nearby Tuscola County.

The three in Michigan had been charged there with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes ...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4122299.html

[Miss Chybil]

1. What am I missing here?

Weird to buy so many phones retail to resell, but doesn't one buy things and use the profit to buy more things to sell to use the profit to buy more things to sell to use the profit to buy more things to sell...? I don't get the charges.

[achtung_circus]

2. Apparently

people who resell cell phones buy the phone, break down the kit, into phone, carrier, recharger, memory card, etc. The parts are sold for more as parts than the intial investment, generating a profit.

The feds are obviously stretching to lay these charges.

[acmavm]

3. Gotta justify making asses out of themselves somehow. Just trying to

save a little face.

[truth2power]

13. The feds are stretching? I'll say! ...

Isn't what you described kinda like the auto salvage yards? You know, the guy buys wrecked cars and then parts them out for more than he paid for the original cars. Sounds like a profitable business to me. Is that considered money laundering? :eyes:

[achtung_circus]

17. I don't see it.

If I buy a pre-paid cell phone for say $30, open the package, sell the phone for $35, the charger for $15 the memory card for $20, that's capitalism. That's entrepeneurship.

That's terra.

Only in cloud cuckoo land.

[truth2power]

12. You're not missing anything...

That was my thought, too. If you have a business, any business, don't you use at least part of your profit to buy more product? Geez! What a bunch of morons those prosecutors must be.

[western mass]

14. The charge: DWM (driving while muslim)

Sorry for the confusion, citizen.

[Richard Steele]

4. New bogus charges to distract from the old bogus charges. Pfft. nm

[Vidar]

11. Perfect, succinct summary, Thanks.

[roseBudd]

5. And these guys were profiled, it was the Middle Eastern appearance &

surnames that led the jump to terrorism charges. And the $950,000 bail.

[The Stranger]

6. Completely racist, bigoted and xenophobic prosecutions.

Fraud conspiracy claims are a fucking joke, and they were desperate because they had nothing on them.

[rodeodance]

7. real quick to charge terroism! Don't buy more than one cell phone at a

time or you will end up on some nasty list.

[rodeodance]

8. look, another case in OHIO, and charges dropped also

In the other case, two men from Michigan were released from jail Tuesday _ the same day a prosecutor in Ohio dropped similar charges against them. They were arrested with a dozen cell phones, passenger lists and $11,000 in cash during a traffic violation in Marietta, Ohio, on Aug. 8.

Authorities said they found airplane passenger lists and information on airport security checkpoints along with the cash and cell phones in the car.

The men initially were charged with supporting terrorism after buying large numbers of cell phones. Those charges were dropped, but the men still face misdemeanor counts stemming from allegations that they lied to deputies.

[RaRa]

9. airplane passenger lists and information on airport security checkpoints "

apparently, the kids were driving one of their mother's car and she's an Air Jordanian employee who had attended an airport security seminar at work and left the papers in the car. I really need to talk to my brother to get the scoop, since he's the attorney for one of the guys in Ohio (and my brother is now often quoted on some right wingnut blogs - especially since his office has Sherrod Brown and Ted Strickland stickers in his windows!)

[Demeter]

10. I'm Pleasantly Surprised the Michigan Prosecutor Blinked

since he's on my payroll, and not at all surprised that the Feds are hanging on to the bogus charges.

[noonwitch]

15. I would have been suspicious because of how far away from home they were

The Dearborn guys who were arrested in Ohio in a similar situation was different-Ohio is not that far away.

These guys were from Texas. It is summer and people come to Michigan for the beaches and nice weather we've been having, but I can see why the WalMart guys in a small town might have been somewhat suspicious. It was worth checking out, but probably not worth arresting anyone over it all.

[HuffleClaw]

16. but they still try the trumped up bogus charge gambit ???

what utter bullshit. "conspiracy to defraud consumers and telephone providers by trafficking in counterfeit goods" bwahhaahhahhahhahaaaaa