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SACRAMENTO (AP) — A Lodi ice cream vendor pleaded guilty Wednesday to a lesser charge of trying to smuggle cash to Pakistan rather than be retried on allegations that he lied to the FBI about his son’s attendance at a terrorist training camp.
Umer Hayat, 48, was convicted of lying to customs agents about more than $28,000 he and family members were trying to carry on a flight out of the country three years ago. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop charges that he lied to the FBI and to recommend he serve no more jail time after spending nearly a year in custody.
“This outcome was not, of course, the one most desired by the government,” said U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott. “However, what is for certain is that our region is safer today than it was one year ago.”
Hayat smiled as he left the federal courthouse, but would not comment.
“He’s happy. It’s over. Obviously he wants to move on with his life at this point,” said defense lawyer Johnny Griffin III. “From Day One we’ve maintained that Umer Hayat is not a terrorist, he had no involvement with terrorist related conduct or activities.”
Hayat’s son, Hamid Hayat, 23, faces at least 30 years in prison for supporting terrorism by attending an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and lying to the FBI. His sentencing was postponed indefinitely.
Umer Hayat’s first trial ended in April in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in his case. He had been scheduled to be retried Monday and would likely have faced only a few additional months behind bars if convicted of the two lying charges, Scott said. He remains under house arrest until his Aug. 18 sentencing.
Hayat admitted in court that he lied in April 2003 when he denied his family was carrying more than $10,000 in cash when he was detained on a jetway at Washington-Dulles International Airport.
Federal agents found two white envelopes containing $5,000 each in his pants, two similar envelopes in his son’s pockets and $8,053 being carried by Umer Hayat’s wife, Oma Salma Hayat.
Most of the money was eventually returned, minus a penalty for the legal violation of failing to declare the cash. Umer Hayat gave several explanations, including that his family was bringing cash from several families to relatives and that he planned to give cash as wedding gifts for his son and daughter.
It was on that trip to Pakistan that Hamid Hayat attended the terrorist training camp, according to prosecutors, though Scott said there is no indication the money was to be used for any terrorist activity.
The plea closes another chapter in the case of terrorist-related activities in the small city of Lodi — about 35 miles south of the state capital — that is better known for growing wine grapes.
The government’s investigation into Lodi’s 2,500-member Pakistani community began after agents received a tip in 2001 that local businesses were sending money to terrorist groups abroad.
That probe produced no results, but it eventually led to the Hayats after an informant who had targeted a pair of local imams befriended Hamid Hayat.
In recorded phone calls from the younger Hayat in Pakistan, the informant urged him to attend a terrorist camp, though defense lawyers claimed there was no evidence he ever went to such a camp.
The government presented no evidence of a terrorism network during the nine-week trial, but centered its case on videotaped confessions the two Hayats gave to FBI agents.
Their lawyers claimed the confessions came after hours of leading questioning, and that their clients merely told the FBI what they thought the agents wanted to hear.
The investigation became public a year ago when authorities arrested the Hayats and detained two local clerics. The religious leaders and one of their sons were later deported for immigration violations.
The Hayats were the only people criminally charged in the probe, though Scott would not rule out the possibility of additional charges against other Lodi residents.
Asked if the investigation was important in the so-called war on terror, Scott said it had disrupted a potential problem in Lodi.
“Do I think defeating the insurgency in Iraq was on the same scale? Obviously, those are of two different magnitudes,” he said.
Umer Hayat, 48, was convicted of lying to customs agents about more than $28,000 he and family members were trying to carry on a flight out of the country three years ago. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop charges that he lied to the FBI and to recommend he serve no more jail time after spending nearly a year in custody.
“This outcome was not, of course, the one most desired by the government,” said U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott. “However, what is for certain is that our region is safer today than it was one year ago.”
Hayat smiled as he left the federal courthouse, but would not comment.
“He’s happy. It’s over. Obviously he wants to move on with his life at this point,” said defense lawyer Johnny Griffin III. “From Day One we’ve maintained that Umer Hayat is not a terrorist, he had no involvement with terrorist related conduct or activities.”
Hayat’s son, Hamid Hayat, 23, faces at least 30 years in prison for supporting terrorism by attending an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan in 2003 and lying to the FBI. His sentencing was postponed indefinitely.
Umer Hayat’s first trial ended in April in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked in his case. He had been scheduled to be retried Monday and would likely have faced only a few additional months behind bars if convicted of the two lying charges, Scott said. He remains under house arrest until his Aug. 18 sentencing.
Hayat admitted in court that he lied in April 2003 when he denied his family was carrying more than $10,000 in cash when he was detained on a jetway at Washington-Dulles International Airport.
Federal agents found two white envelopes containing $5,000 each in his pants, two similar envelopes in his son’s pockets and $8,053 being carried by Umer Hayat’s wife, Oma Salma Hayat.
Most of the money was eventually returned, minus a penalty for the legal violation of failing to declare the cash. Umer Hayat gave several explanations, including that his family was bringing cash from several families to relatives and that he planned to give cash as wedding gifts for his son and daughter.
It was on that trip to Pakistan that Hamid Hayat attended the terrorist training camp, according to prosecutors, though Scott said there is no indication the money was to be used for any terrorist activity.
The plea closes another chapter in the case of terrorist-related activities in the small city of Lodi — about 35 miles south of the state capital — that is better known for growing wine grapes.
The government’s investigation into Lodi’s 2,500-member Pakistani community began after agents received a tip in 2001 that local businesses were sending money to terrorist groups abroad.
That probe produced no results, but it eventually led to the Hayats after an informant who had targeted a pair of local imams befriended Hamid Hayat.
In recorded phone calls from the younger Hayat in Pakistan, the informant urged him to attend a terrorist camp, though defense lawyers claimed there was no evidence he ever went to such a camp.
The government presented no evidence of a terrorism network during the nine-week trial, but centered its case on videotaped confessions the two Hayats gave to FBI agents.
Their lawyers claimed the confessions came after hours of leading questioning, and that their clients merely told the FBI what they thought the agents wanted to hear.
The investigation became public a year ago when authorities arrested the Hayats and detained two local clerics. The religious leaders and one of their sons were later deported for immigration violations.
The Hayats were the only people criminally charged in the probe, though Scott would not rule out the possibility of additional charges against other Lodi residents.
Asked if the investigation was important in the so-called war on terror, Scott said it had disrupted a potential problem in Lodi.
“Do I think defeating the insurgency in Iraq was on the same scale? Obviously, those are of two different magnitudes,” he said.
