{"id":31057,"date":"2023-10-20T22:48:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T04:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/federal-jury-convicts-four-new-mexico-compound-defendants-in-terrorism-plot\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:33:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:33:29","slug":"federal-jury-convicts-four-new-mexico-compound-defendants-in-terrorism-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/federal-jury-convicts-four-new-mexico-compound-defendants-in-terrorism-plot\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal jury convicts four New Mexico compound defendants in \u2018terrorism\u2019 plot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Courtesy
Courtesy of the FBI.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

After a three-week trial, the jury convicted Siraj Wahhaj and Lucas Morton of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to murder an officer or employee of the United States, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of New Mexico.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Hujrah Wahhaj, Subhanah Wahhaj, and Lucas Morton received convictions of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, resulting in death, and kidnapping, resulting in death.<\/p>\n

A fifth defendant, Jany Leveille, pled guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and possessing a firearm while unlawfully in the United States.<\/p>\n

In December 2017, Siraj Wahhaj unlawfully abducted his three-year-old son, Abdul Ghani, from his wife, who lived in Georgia.<\/p>\n

Levelle and the defendants believed that Abul Ghani was her son and that she was possessed by demons.<\/p>\n

The defendants took Ghani to New Mexico, deprived him of his anti-seizure medication and his mother\u2019s care, and did daily spiritual exorcisms on him.<\/p>\n

The child died less than two weeks after coming to New Mexico; it happened before investigators had a suspected location to search for the child.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Leveille\u2019s direction, Siraj and the others established a community centered on the belief that Abdul Ghani would return as Jesus Christ to pass judgment on corrupt institutions, including the FBI, the military, and other government and financial institutions,\u201d the release said. \u201cTo this end, they established a fortified base and a firing range. Armed with 11 firearms, including an AR-15 Bushmaster assault rifle, high-capacity magazines, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, the group conducted weapons and tactical training and required some of the children to do so as well. The group conducted the training with the intent to \u2018face the nation\u2019 and kill those who refused to believe as they did. They spoke of waging jihad and becoming martyrs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In August 2018, the Taos County Sheriff\u2019s Office Tactical SRT Unit executed warrants on the compound.<\/p>\n

Siraj Wahhaj was armed and prepared to defend the compound, but law enforcement took him into custody without a shot being fired. Law enforcement found the child\u2019s remains in an underground tunnel.<\/p>\n

In her plea agreement, Leveille admitted that she agreed with her co-conspirators to \u201cprovide material support and resources to prepare for, and to carry out, the killing of federal officers or employees when they came to the compound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leveille also said she knew she was in the United States illegally and not allowed to possess a firearm or ammunition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a mother loses her child, we all lose a child,\u201d United States Attorney Alexander Uballez said in the release. \u201cIt is our collective responsibility to protect our children from danger and, when we lose a child, it is our solemn duty in law enforcement to ensure that those who are responsible receive justice. My thanks go out to the many local, state, and federal law enforcement officers who worked tirelessly to deliver that justice, and my heart goes out to the mother of Abdul Ghani.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four defendants are in custody pending sentencing.<\/p>\n

Siraj, Hujrah and Subhanah Wahhaj, and Lucas Morton all face up to a life sentence in prison. Meanwhile, Leveille faces up to 17 years in prison.<\/p>\n

The FBI Albuquerque Field Office investigated the case with help from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the Taos County Sheriff\u2019s Office, the NM Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, and the 8th Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

This story <\/a>was written by Tom Joyce and has been republished here from The Center Square.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of the FBI. After a three-week trial, the jury convicted Siraj Wahhaj and Lucas Morton of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to murder an officer or employee of the United States, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the District of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,799,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-31057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-farmington","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81304,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31057\/revisions\/81304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31057"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=31057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}