A federal judge on Monday sentenced a Waterville man for his role in a planned terrorist attack at a Chicago area mosque.
Xavier Pelkey, 20, pleaded guilty on April 7 and was sentenced on Monday to 15 years in federal prison followed by 20 years of supervised release.
Beginning in November 2021, Pelkey conspired with two minors, located in Chicago and Canada, to conduct a mass shooting at a Shia mosque in the Chicago area, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Pelkey and his co-conspirators subscribed to a radical form of Sunni Islam and supported the foreign terrorist Islamic State organization, also known as ISIS, the DOJ said. Pelkey planned to contribute firearms, ammunition and explosives for the attack.
In February 2022, the FBI searched Pelkey’s residence at 80 Front Street in Waterville and found three handmade explosive devices. In an affidavit included in court records, an FBI investigator said each device consisted of several fireworks items bundled together with tape. Amid the fireworks were staples, pins and thumbtacks.
Investigators reported seeing a hand-painted version of the ISIS flag on the wall of Pelkey’s bedroom and found written statements meant to be released just before the planned attack claiming that it was being done in the name of ISIS, the DOJ said.
