Man who supplied weapons to San Bernardino terrorists to be sentenced
Attorneys will argue for significantly different prison terms Friday, Oct. 23, when Enrique Marquez Jr. is sentenced for supplying the weapons used in the Dec. 2, 2015, terrorist shooting in San Bernardino that killed 14 people and wounded 22 others.
The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Jesus G. Bernal in Riverside could mean a 19-year difference in Marquez’s prison term.
Marquez, 28, pleaded guilty in February 2017, but his sentencing has been delayed by attorney motions and Marquez’s unsuccessful attempt to withdraw his plea to one of the charges.
A Riverside resident who attended La Sierra High, Marquez was convicted of providing material support to terrorists and making a false statement on federal firearms-purchase forms on which Marquez said the firearms he was buying in 2011 and 2012 were for his use. Instead, he sold them to Syed Rizwan Farook as part of an aborted plan to wage attacks on motorists on the 91 Freeway and at Riverside City College.
Farook, 28, had radicalized his longtime friend to Islam.
Farook and wife Tashfeen Malik, 29, entered a training meeting and holiday party for his co-workers at the San Bernardino County Division of Environmental Health and sprayed gunfire inside a conference room at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino.
The terrorist couple, residents of Redlands, were killed hours later in a gun battle with law enforcement.
Authorities say that Marquez did not know about that plot in advance.
Federal prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum filed Oct. 16 that they will ask Bernal to adopt the U.S. Probation Office’s recommendation that Marquez serves 25 years in prison. That would include time for a sentencing enhancement for terrorism.
“Defendant’s actions were extremely dangerous, and his crimes of conviction are extremely serious. They include providing semiautomatic weapons and explosives to a person defendant admits he knew to be motivated by anti-American and violent extremist ideologies, and plotting with that person to kill large numbers of innocent people, including college students, motorists, and first responders,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors also said Marquez’s attorney is asking for a sentence close to time already served — about five years — and will ask Bernal to strike the terrorism sentencing enhancement.
The sentencing recommendation filed by Marquez’s attorney, John N. Aquilina, is sealed. But Aquilina said in an email Wednesday that he is seeking “a substantial” reduction in the potential term recommended by the Probation Department. He also said the terrorism enhancement is being inappropriately applied to Marquez.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, wrote that the enhancement is “clearly applicable” to Marquez’s crimes.
Federal sentences are based on a matrix that considers an offense level that ranges from 1 to 43 and a criminal-history level that ranges from 1 to 6. Prosecutors said Aquilina was seeking a reduction from level 43 to 26, where a defendant with a minimal criminal history such as Marquez could face a sentence of 6 to 7 years.
Prosecutors warned against giving Marquez a break because of his history.
“Despite his lack of prior convictions, the facts of this case reveal another disturbing truth: where defendant goes, serious federal crimes follow, including illegal weapons purchases, conspiracy to commit terrorist attacks, and immigration fraud. Worse, defendant’s offenses are crimes of enablement and facilitation, helping and encouraging others to violate federal law.”
Trenna Meins, whose husband, Damian, was gunned down near the Christmas tree, said in a statement that she hopes Marquez’s sentence will be a deterrent.
“We all have a moral obligation to do what is right for the good of our community and the whole of humanity, and not just for ourselves. Life is truly a gift and to purposely participate in a course of action and omission that results in such carnage and devastation to our families is nothing short of pure evil. Indifference in the face of evil is simply not an option,” Meins wrote.
“While we cannot go back and change the course of events that have already happened, as we move forward, we can take action to ensure that no one ever suffers the loss of a loved one in such a horrific way at the hands of another,” she wrote.
Prosecutors have agreed to drop an immigration fraud charge in exchange for Marquez’s plea. Marquez had pretended to marry Mariya Chernykh, Farook’s Russian born sister-in-law, in order to help her immigrate to the U.S. after she overstayed her visa.
Chernykh pleaded guilty to conspiracy, perjury and two counts of making false statements and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 29.
Chernyk’s sister, Tatiana Farook, pleaded guilty to one count of immigration fraud and is set to be sentenced Dec. 14. Her husband, Syed Raheel Farook, pleaded guilty to one count of immigration fraud and is due to be sentenced Nov. 9.
The Farooks’ mother, Rafia Farook, has pleaded guilty to destruction of evidence – shredding a map created by Rizwan Farook in connection with the San Bernardino attack — and is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 16.
Source: The Sun
