Texas skyscraper bomb plot suspect due in court

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In this undated file photo provided by the Ellis County Sheriff's Department, Hosam Maher Smadi is shown. Smadi, a Jordanian teenager accused of attempting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper returns to court Monday for a hearing to decide if there's enough evidence to continue the case against him. (AP)

AP
Published: October 26, 2009

A Jordanian man accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper with what he thought was a car bomb is expected in court.

Nineteen-year-old Hosam Maher Smadi is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. He is charged with attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction and bombing a public place. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

Smadi was arrested Sept. 24 after investigators said he parked a truck with what he believed was a bomb in a garage under a 60-story office building. The device was a decoy provided by FBI agents posing as al-Qaida operatives.

The FBI said it had been keeping tabs on Smadi after finding him on an extremist Web site this year. Investigators believe he acted alone and wasn’t affiliated with a terrorist group.