Man Pleads Not Guilty Of Trying To Bomb Dolphin Mall
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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — A Honduran man has pleaded not guilty to charges of plotting to commit a terrorist bombing at a busy South Florida mall in support of the Islamic State extremist group.
Court records show 53-year-old Vicente Adolfo Solano entered the plea at a hearing Monday to a charge of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
The FBI says Solano wanted to detonate a bomb on a crowded Friday night at the Dolphin Mall food court, but was working with undercover FBI operatives who gave him a fake bomb before his arrest.
Investigators said he had planned to detonate a pressure cooker bomb in a suitcase during Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Solano faces a maximum life prison sentence if convicted. No trial date has been set.
Despite Solano's claims of Islamic State sympathies, the FBI says no links to foreign terrorist groups have been found. There is also no indication Solano converted to Islam.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)