Posted on 12/12/2001 6:47:07 AM PST by ex-Texan
Beaverton man facing gun charges has ties to Hamas, prosecutors say
MARK LARABEE
A Beaverton man who has been jailed since October on federal gun charges was denied release Tuesday after prosecutors detailed what they consider disturbing facts about his background, including that he trained with the Palestinian guerrilla group Hamas as a youth.
Although prosecutors did not call Ali Khaled Steitiye a terrorist, they said the federal Anti-Terrorism Task Force set up in Portland after the Sept. 11 attacks is investigating him.
Steitiye, 39, was arrested Oct. 24 with two guns, more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition and a machete in his car. Police searching his home found a calendar with Sept. 11 circled in red marker.
They also found four Social Security cards, a fake immigration "green" card, $20,000 in cash, a wood-carved plaque with "Hamas" on it, and evidence of credit card fraud and as much as $70,000 in welfare fraud, they said.
Prosecutors said Steitiye, who came to the United States from Lebanon in the early 1980s, may have submitted false tax documents in support of his U.S. citizenship application, which was granted last year. They said they expect to take that and the fraud evidence to a grand jury in January.
"There is no reason for this gentleman to be released," said Fred Weinhouse, an assistant U.S. attorney. "He is an extreme flight risk, and we consider him an extreme danger."
Weinhouse said that when Steitiye was arrested, he said Americans were weak.
In a plea to Federal Magistrate John Jelderks on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland, Steitiye said he was not dangerous and denied that he had done anything illegal to earn his citizenship. "I am an American citizen, and I care about this country," he said. "I care about the interest of this country and the security of this country. Those are for me."
Steitiye said Sept. 11 was a sad day for him and that's why he had highlighted it on his calendar. He said that as a child growing up in Lebanon, he experienced terrorism firsthand. "I've had Sept. 11 since I was a kid," he said.
Investigators began looking into Steitiye's activities in August after he allegedly lied to a Tigard gun dealer about his felony record. He has felony convictions for theft in 1984 in Oklahoma and for forging a U.S. Treasury check in 1986 in Oregon, records show. It's a federal crime for convicted felons to have guns.
The Anti-Terrorism Task Force put him under surveillance. On Oct. 24, in anticipation of executing a search warrant at his house, Portland police pulled him over, discovering a loaded 9 mm handgun in his waistband, an SAR 7.62-caliber assault rifle -- the same model he tried to buy in August. They also found four 30-round clips and 1,000 rounds for the rifle and a machete.
Steitiye's attorney, Dennis Balske, said Steitiye is married and has four children and that prosecutors are overreacting to a basic gun case based on Sept. 11.
Balske called three friends of Steitiye's who all testified that he was a good family man who prayed regularly at the mosque at the Portland Islamic Center.
"He seems to be a very stable person compared to what I heard from the attorney," said Khalid Elolaimi. "I don't see him as a danger to the community."
Elolaimi said he had recently bought a gun for protection because of post-Sept. 11, anti-Muslim backlash and that many of his friends had done the same. Weinhouse pointed out that Steitiye had tried to buy the assault rifle in August, before the attacks.
Balske called the government's arguments overkill and argued that Steitiye should not be locked up pending his trial.
"There's a little bit of hysteria in the air," Balske said. "I think we need to look at this calmly. They're making this out to be a lot bigger than it is."
But Weinhouse said he would have made the same recommendations if the man's name were "John Smith" because of the "obsessive desire" to obtain an assault weapon, even after he was denied by the Tigard gun dealer.
Jelderks agreed, saying he would not release any defendant in these circumstances "whether Sept. 11 is factored in or not."
A federal grand jury filed a superseding indictment Tuesday -- which is not yet public -- charging Steitiye with making false statements to a licensed gun dealer and being a felon in possession of firearms. The original indictment charged him with lying to the gun dealer and illegally possessing a .45-caliber pistol at a gun show. The latter charge was dropped because police mistook someone else for Steitiye.
Although Steitye was indicted on federal charges, Portland police Chief Mark Kroeker held a hastily arranged news conference late Tuesday to announce the arrest.
It's proof, he said, that the bureau is cooperating with anti-terrorism efforts, contrary to criticism it received last month after it refused the U.S. Justice Department's request to help interview a list of foreign visitors in Oregon.
"This is in response, in part, to misinformation out there that gives the impression the Portland Police Bureau is . . . obstructive in some sense," he said.
No federal representatives were at the news conference.
Joseph Rose contributed to this story. You can reach Mark Larabee at 503-294-7664 or by e-mail at marklarabee@news.oregonian.com.
His cellmates might take exception to that.
16:06 Dec-12-01, 27 Kislev 5762
Lebanese National With Hamas ID Apprehended in Portland
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Lebanese national, 39-year-old Ali Khaled Steitiye was arrested by law enforcement agents in Portland, Oregon. On his person was a weapon, a diary with Sept. 11th highlighted, and a plate with the word Hamas on it. His arrest was the result of a local gun dealer informing police that Ali used fraudulent means when trying to purchase a weapon. Ali told investigators that he trained in a Lebanese facility. Law enforcement officials report that they found a handgun, an automatic weapon, and a considerable amount of ammunition in his home when arrested in October. He also had credit cards and a large knife. It is being reported that he obtained US citizenship last year by fraudulent means.
Steitiye, 39, was arrested Oct. 24 with two gunsAll and all, a law-abiding American citizen. Let him move into the home next to the Mayor ....
More than 1,000 rounds of ammunition
Machete in his car
A calendar with Sept. 11 circled in red marker.
Found four Social Security cards
Fake immigration "green" card
$20,000 in cash
A wood-carved plaque with "Hamas" on it
Evidence of credit card fraud
As much as $70,000 in welfare fraud
May have submitted false tax documents in support of his U.S. citizenship application
Making false statements to a licensed gun dealer.
Being a felon in possession of firearms.
I hope Portland "Mayor" Katz is on her way out. The free local throw-away paper Willamette Week wrote a public relations puff piece on Katz recently trying to clarify her views and attacking the national media for portraying her as soft on terrorism.
Katz and her team a running scared of civil rights lawsuits.
This scary reality is what so many of us have screaming and shouting about for about a month now. When Katz's PC, butt boys, the police chief, ass. police chief and city attorney refused to question the 200 Islamic potential terrorists identified by John Ashcroft! Of course our left wingers and the fans of the terrorists on FR leaped to Katz's defense. They called her and her butt boys, true American heroes for refusing to question these potential Islamic terrorists. If anyone in America is killed by one of these 200 or others flocking to Portland for safety, they are as guilty of abetting murderers as Katz and her butt boys!
The arab of course is a VICTIM and needs to be protected.
Now we know why the PD refused to cooperate with the FBI!
This guy got his citizenship last year after being convicted of two felonies since he arrived in the US?????????
Why would one, if a terrorist, be driving around with a plaque with "Hamas" on it?
prambo
One thing that bothers me...the man lives in Beaverton and tried to purchase the rifle in Tigard. Why was the Portland police chief involved? Why wasn't it the Beaverton police chief or the Tigard police chief? I think this is CYA...BIG TIME.
Arabic Concert/New Years Eve Party Mon Dec 31 - Jan 1, 2002
Show Dates & Times:
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Tickets available at all Ticketmaster Outlets (including GI Joes and selected Fred Meyer stores) or by calling Ticketmaster at (503) 224-4400.
Music will be provided by Fadi Hanania and The Arabian Knights. Dinner package includes a sit down 3-course steak dinner scheduled to be served beginning at 9:30pm.
They consider these facts "disturbing"!! Wonder what they considered 9/11/01 - unsettling?
She needs a swift kick to her posterior.
However, I read the article to say the police found his Hamas Plaque at his home, "
"Police searching his home found a calendar with Sept. 11 circled in red marker.
They also found four Social Security cards, a fake immigration "green" card, $20,000 in cash, a wood-carved plaque with "Hamas" on it, and evidence of credit card fraud and as much as $70,000 in welfare fraud, they said."
Lets see beside the guns that were illegal due to his felon status, a fake green card, evidence of credit card fraud and as much as $70000 in welfare fraud, and amazing with $20,000 cash on him!
With Oregone's two strike laws, he has at least doubled that in this one massive screw up! Of course his daddy probably mistreated him as a child, and he has had night mares of being an American Slave before the civil war. (doesn't matter that the civil war freed the slaves 100 years before he was born! His lawyer can call it right wing Arab profiling, and he can be out on his personal word in time to attend the Arab News Years Party at the Portland, Oregon Convention Center! Katz will be his proud escort!
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