WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – A former avionics technician who authorities said wanted to cause “maximum carnage” during the holiday season admitted Monday to plotting a suicide bomb attack at a Wichita airport.
Terry L. Loewen pleaded guilty to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, after striking a deal with prosecutors for a proposed 20-year sentence.
U.S. District Judge Monti Belot took the plea agreement under advisement, but said he was “almost certain” to accept the proposed sentence. If Belot rejects it, Loewen would be allowed to withdraw his plea. Sentencing is set for Aug. 31.
Loewen, 59, was arrested in December 2013 after authorities said he tried to bring a van filled with inert explosives onto the tarmac at Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport, now called the Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. His arrest was the culmination of a monthslong sting operation in which two FBI agents posed as co-conspirators.
The plea agreement revealed that Loewen came to the attention of the FBI in late May 2013, when he became a Facebook “friend” of an individual who regularly posted information supporting violent jihad.