May 25, 2009 7:16 am US/Eastern
Families Of Temple Terror Plot Suspects Speak Out
NEWBURGH, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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The FBI arrested four men who were accused of planning a terror plot, with targets including a synagogues and a military plane. (CBS)
CBS
They are accused with trying to blow up two city synagogues and shoot down a military plane.
But Sunday, the families of the men charged in that temple terror plot are firing back.
Newburgh resident Lord McWilliams says an FBI informant tricked his brother into being part of a plot to blow up synagogues.
"He wasn't raised to blow up nobody, to hate nobody," McWilliams says. "All he tried to do was help me."
McWilliams, who suffers from a fatal liver condition, says his brother, David Williams, fell into the trap because he wanted to pay for the 20-year-old's surgery.
"He just said, 'don't worry – when we go to the doctor, tell them you got the money for a new liver,'" McWilliams says.
Williams' mother says her son didn't have the cash for the dummy bombs the feds say he bought.
She says Williams was driven by money, and that he never talked about wanting to commit jihad or a holy war against Jews.
"He said, 'I met a real Muslim brother who's going to help me with Lord," Elizabeth McWilliams says.
The girlfriend of terror suspect James Cromitie tells the same story.
Kathleen Baynes says that not only did the informant give Cromitie tons of literature – including an Osama Bin Laden book and prayer rugs – but he also paid their rent and got them cell phones.
She even saved the informant's phone number on her phone.
"He was stalking them, he basically pimped them," Baynes says.
Baynes says her boyfriend met the informant they came to know as "Maqsood" at a Newburgh mosque more than a year ago. She says that from that point on, he came frequently, and always armed with cash.
"Four black men – he ruined their lives, and also ours," Baynes says.
"I know my son is not like that," McWilliams said. "I know that in my heart."
FBI officials haven't commented on the alleged gift-giving. Lord McWilliams hopes his brother, now labeled a terrorist, knows one thing.
"I love you," he said.
Family members of the men say that, so far, they have been denied visitation rights.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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