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Boston Police Captain's Son Faces 20 Years For Terror Plot On School
Prosecutors say Alexander Ciccolo sympathized with ISIS and the Boston Bombers, which drove him to plan his own attack.
A Boston police captain's son is facing a potential two decades behind bars for plotting to attack a school.
Alexander Ciccolo, 26 of Adams, Massachusetts is expected to be sentenced Wednesday in a federal court in Springfield. In May, he pleaded guilty to terrorism charges for plotting to attack an unidentified college in a show of support for the Islamic State, the Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors say he planned to use assault rifles, pressure-cooker bombs and explosives in the attack. In addition to attacking a school, he allegedly wanted to target a police station and bars. He allegedly sympathized with the Boston Bombers and ISIS, according to the Boston Herald.
It was his dad, Boston police Capt. Robert Ciccolo, who tipped off the FBI to his son’s plans.
“The government recognizes that Captain Ciccolo’s decision to come forward was heartbreaking,” federal prosecutors said in their sentencing memorandum filed on Friday, according to the Boston Herald. They say he “likely saved the lives of numerous innocent people.”
Alexander Ciccolo was arrested on July 4, 2015 after he revealed his plans to an undercover government source and after purchasing four firearms from that source, according to the Boston Herald. Investigators found a Walmart receipt for a pressure cooker on him the same day.
His lawyers pointed to their client’s troubled childhood and substance abuse issues and claimed he wouldn’t have been able to carry out the plan, according to the Associated Press.
[Photo: Associated Press]
