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GOOSE CREEK, SC - Investigators say a man armed with a shotgun robbed a choir group at a church in Goose Creek Wednesday night. ... One of the victims told police that a man entered the church through an unlocked door and aimed a shotgun towards the choir area. The victims told police that the suspect then told the choir to get on the floor and to "Keep your heads down, I'll blow your head off."... the suspect continued to demand everyone's wallets and purses

The commanding officer of the Charleston Naval Weapons Station has been temporarily relieved of his command after being busted in an undercover prostitution sting by North Charleston police. Capt. Glen Melvin Little, 55, of Goose Creek, has been temporarily reassigned to the office of the commander, Navy Region Southeast, in Jacksonville, Fla., said Scott Bassett, public affairs officer at the Weapons Station. According to a North Charleston police report, Little was arrested about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday after having approached an undercover female police officer who was posing as a prostitute in the Charleston Farms area on Remount Road.

Youssef Megahed was freed this evening after a judge dismissed the deportation case against the former University of South Florida student. Megahed was driven out of a detention facility by his father about 6:30 p.m. He is expected to return home to Tampa on Saturday. "I'm very happy for this," Megahed said, smiling and surrounded by his family. "This was the only correct decision the judge could have given." He said he wants to return to USF to take the remaining class he needs for his engineering degree. Megahed said he holds no bitterness toward the government but described his...

SNIPPET: “Youssef Megahed, a permanent resident alien of the United States, was in immigration court in Miami last week. According to published reports, Megahed faced deportation based on terrorism charges stemming from much publicized arrest in South Carolina in 2007 along with his friend Ahmed Mohamed. After a five-day hearing before Immigration Judge Kenneth Hurewitz, however, the deportation case against Mr. Megahed was terminated because Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) failed to prove its case. The question the American public should be asking is “Why?””

Youssef Megahed, fresh off being acquitted by a federal jury on explosives charge, was shopping with his father, Samir, Monday..."We were surrounded by men...," said Samir. "They did not allow me to talk to Youssef...Then Youssef was whisked away... Megahed...was arrested on an immigration warrant, according to his attorney...agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement made the arrest. "Mr. Megahed has been placed into removal proceedings and is being held in ICE custody pending the outcome of his case," said James P. Judge, local ICE spokesman.... Allen said he thinks Megahed will be taken from Tampa to ICE's Krome...

Twenty months after a traffic stop in Goose Creek, S.C., catapulted two University of South Florida students into a federal explosives case that raised the specter of terrorism, one of those students has been set free by a panel of 12 jurors. Youssef Megahed, 23, is not guilty, the jury said. Not guilty of illegally transporting explosives materials. Not guilty of possessing a destructive device.

Ahmed Mohamed, one half of the Goose Creek two, received the maximum sentence yesterday for creating a jihad video that was to be used by Muslim “martyrs” fighting American soldiers in Arab countries. He and his apologists still insist on painting Mohamed as a regular college guy. The judge didn’t buy it. Good: ~~~ Former University of South Florida student Ahmed Mohamed received a maximum 15-year federal prison sentence Thursday for providing material support to terrorists. In court, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday pondered the 27-year-old’s potential aloud, gazing at the former engineering doctoral student and teaching assistant who...

When two Muslim students were arrested late last year in South Carolina CAIR called it racial and religious profiling. Well the judge has called it terrorism and has sentenced one of them to 15 years in jail.

TAMPA -- Former University of South Florida student Ahmed Mohamed got a 15-year sentence today for providing material support to terrorism. "I still wonder why this young man in front of me at his age, at his intelligence, how he has become committed to this path," said U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday, who gave Mohamed, 27, the harshest penalty allowed by law

Remember Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed, one half of the Muslim duo caught driving on an obscure highway near Goose Creek, South Carolina in the middle of the night, with pipe bombs, laptops, and Korans, back in August of last year? The claimed it was "just fireworks" and that they were going to spend a weekend grilling or something. Yup, "grilling" Americans. They were driving near a military installation which stores nuclear weapons and held terrorist enemy combatants. With the Yemeni Mohamed was Yousef Megahed, an Egyptian. They both smiled in their mugshots and in court proceedings. "Just Fireworks" Terrorist Ahmed...

Former University of South Florida engineering student Ahmed Mohamed agreed Friday to plead guilty to a federal charge of providing material support to terrorists. For their part, prosecutors plan to drop six other charges against Mohamed, 26, when he is sentenced. Among the counts to be dropped are charges of illegally transporting explosive material, possessing an unregistered destructive device, and a student visa violation for possessing a firearm. "This plea agreement was at the request of our client after a very long and agonizing decision by both him and his family, and it was his decision to resolve this matter...

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...

Charleston, SC (AHN) - A 10-year-old South Carolina boy died of "drowning" several hours after he was on dry ground, a coroner's report has found. Johnny Jackson died of "dry drowning," a form of asphyxiation that happens when a small amount of water gets into the lungs and damages tissue, causing the lungs to swell and fill up with water. The boy's mother, Cassandra Jackson, said Johnny went swimming in a local pool at Goose Greek on Sunday. Though the child didn't show any signs of respiratory distress, he "soiled himself," NBC News reported. He walked home with his mother...

TAMPA – The explosives trial of a former University of South Florida student will likely be put on hold after prosecutors appealed a judge's evidence ruling this afternoon. A judge ruled today that prosecutors may not use certain evidence in the trial, which had been scheduled to start Monday, of a former University of South Florida student accused of transporting explosives. Ruling in the case of Youssef Megahed, Judge Steven D. Merryday said prosecutors had missed a court deadline for sharing evidence with the defense and barred the government from using files taken from the Megahed family home computer. Late...

After Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed were arrested in South Carolina, deputies recorded the men talking to each other in Arabic in the back of a patrol car. Megahed's attorneys want a judge to limit the use of the recording at the men's upcoming trial, arguing that the recording largely is unintelligible. Consequently, they argue, transcripts of translations of the conversations are so limited that any comments that are intelligible are out of context. Megahed and Mohamed were arrested Aug. 4 after deputies found pipe bombs in the trunk of their car, authorities said. The defense has filed different transcripts...

Twelve days before they were scheduled to go on trial, two former University of South Florida students are facing new charges handed up by a federal grand jury. The new seven-count indictment adds terrorism and weapons charges against one of the defendants, Ahmed Mohamed. It also includes a new charge against Mohamed and Youssef Megahed relating to the devices found in the trunk of their car when they were arrested Aug. 4 in South Carolina. It replaces a two-count indictment handed up last year. Experts say the new indictment shows the prosecution trying to ensure success at trial by offering...

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

Two days before he was to graduate, a University of South Florida student was arrested Thursday on a weapons charge in connection with a case against two other students accused of transporting explosives. Karim Moussaoui, 28, went to a shooting range with the two other students, Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, on July 11, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Moussaoui told the FBI he took pictures and didn't fire any weapons, the complaint states. Mohamed, 26, and Megahed, 21, both Egyptian nationals, were arrested in South Carolina on Aug. 4 and charged with having explosives in...

In the terrorism case of two young Egyptian nationals and University of South Florida students arrested August 4 in South Carolina, fascinating twists and turns abound. There’s a secret recording of the defendants discussing strategy shortly after their arrest. There’s a You Tube video in which one of the defendants gave instructions in Arabic on converting a remote-control toy into a bomb detonator, which one defendant allegedly told police was made to help people in Arab countries “defend themselves against the infidels invading their countries,” specifically “against those who fought for the United States.” That’s not all. The father of...

TAMPA -- Youssef Megahed, detained by federal authorities on explosives charges, is revoking any permission he gave to government agents to search his home or anything else. Assistant Federal Public Defender Adam Allen, Megahed's attorney, filed a notice with the court today withdrawing any consent to search items taken from Megahed after his arrest on Aug. 4. "The filing of this notice is not an admission by the defendant that he has previously given voluntarily consent but is designed to put the government on legal notice that, to the extent the defendant has previously given any voluntary consent to search,...