A Kansas man pleaded guilty Wednesday to plotting to blow up a car bomb at a military base on behalf of the terror group ISIS, federal prosecutors said.
John Booker, 21, pleaded guilty to one count each of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempted destruction of government property by fire or explosion.
Booker, of Topeka, tried to blow up what he thought was a car bomb outside of the Army installation Fort Riley on April 10, but his accomplices were FBI informants and the "bomb" was made with non-explosive materials, prosecutors said.
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The plea agreement calls for a sentence of 30 years in prison. He was initially charged with an additional count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
"John Booker admitted that he intended to kill U.S. military personnel on American soil in the name of ISIL (ISIS)," Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin said in a statement.
Booker attracted the attention of the FBI after he said on Facebook in March of 2014 — a month before he was to report to the Army for basic training — that he wanted to commit violent jihad, and he later told investigators he planned on committing an insider attack, according to a criminal complaint.
Booker was denied entry into the Army but the FBI kept monitoring him, and by October he was in contact with an undercover FBI informant, prosecutors said.
He eventually pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and planned to blow up a bomb in a van, and was arrested after he connected two wires to what he thought was an explosive device, the Justice Department said.
