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Honduran man pleads guilty in Dolphin Mall bomb plot case

Posted at 11:44 AM, Mar 12, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-14 12:13:00-04

MIAMI (AP) — A Honduran man has pleaded guilty to U.S. charges in a plot to detonate a bomb in a Florida mall food court in support of the Islamic State extremist group.

Vicente Adolfo Solano pleaded guilty Wednesday in Miami federal court to a single count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Court records show Solano will be sentenced May 30.

The FBI says the 53-year-old Solano wanted to detonate a bomb last October at the Dolphin Mall near Miami but was actually working with undercover FBI operatives who gave him a fake bomb before his arrest.

Despite Solano's claims of Islamic State sympathies, the FBI says no direct links to terrorist groups were found. Solano never had real explosives.