A New York man accused of planning an Islamic State (ISIS) inspired New Year's Eve machete attack on Thursday pleaded guilty in federal court and faces up to 20 years in prison, NBC News reports.
Emanuel L. Lutchman, 26, planned to kill diners at a local restaurant last New Year's Eve before he was arrested December 30, authorities have said. Some of the people he'd discussed the attack with were working with the FBI.
Lutchman pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization and faces up to 20 years in prison and lifetime supervised release when he is sentenced on November 15, the federal government said, as quoted by NBC.
Lutchman was allegedly in online contact with a reputed ISIS member in Syria, who urged him to kill non-Muslims on the holiday, authorities have alleged. The terror plot prompted the city of Rochester to cancel its fireworks show and take other precautions.
Lutchman's father told NBC News in January that his son has had mental health issues for some time and had been in and out of jail. Omar Lutchman said his son was raised Christian but converted to Islam while in jail, and is easily impressionable.
The ISIS member that Lutchman was in contact with, Abu Issa Al-Amriki, has since died, the Department of Justice said. A defector from the terror group told the New York Times that ISIS prefers to recruit Americans for terror attacks through social media and other online communications.
The case is another example of radicalization, which has plagued the United States and other Western countries as well.
Several months ago, 32-year-old Mufid Elfgeeh from Rochester was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison after trying to recruit FBI informants to ISIS.
In March, a Mississippi couple pleaded guilty to planning to travel to Syria and join ISIS.
Previous examples include the case of a 23-year-old arrested by the FBI for planning a shooting attack in Milwaukee. The man, Samy Mohamed Hamzeh, was found to have originally planned to attack Israelis.
In December 2015, a Pennsylvania teenager was indicted after investigators said he tried to help individuals travel to the Middle East to join ISIS.