Michael C. Finton, also known as ''Talib Islam'' ( meaning "student of Islam"; born 1980), is an American convert to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and a part-time cook who attempted to bomb the Paul Findley Federal Building and the adjacent offices of Congressman

Aaron Schock Aaron Jon Schock (born May 28, 1981) is a former American politician who was Republican Party (United States), Republican United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative for from 2009 until 2015. The district is based in Peoria, Illi ...

in downtown

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...

, on 24 September 2009. He pleaded guilty in federal court on 9 May 2011 and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. A resident of

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, Finton was arrested by an undercover agent of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) Anti-Terrorism Task Force, who was posing as an

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

operative. He was charged with attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.

Background

Finton has said he was born in

Visalia, California Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-most populous city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 38th most populous in California, and 183 ...

, and moved with his family to

Warren, Michigan Warren is a city in Macomb County, Michigan, Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Warren borders Detroit to the north, roughly north of downtown Detroit. The population was 139,387 at the ...

, where he attended high school. He later moved to

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Assault conviction and conversion

On February 3, 1999, Finton robbed a store in Olney, Illinois, and injured the clerk on duty. Finton was convicted of

aggravated assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result ...

and aggravated robbery, and spent 1999–2005 in prison. During this period, he converted to Islam, and after leaving prison, he occasionally attended services at the Masjid Wali Hasan Islamic Center. Finton admired

Anwar Al-Awlaki Anwar Nasser Abdulla al-Awlaki (; April 21 or 22, 1971September 30, 2011) was an American-Yemeni lecturer assassinated Drone strikes in Yemen, in Yemen in 2011 by a U.S. government drone strike ordered by President Barack Obama. Al-Awlaki was th ...

, a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

lecturer suspected by the US government of having ties to

(Al-Awlaki was killed by a US drone in September 2011 in Yemen). Finton had quoted the cleric on his

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

page.

Planning and attempting attack; arrest

After returning from a trip to Saudi Arabia in 2008, Finton happened to make contact with an

undercover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, a ...

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

agent, who posed as an

operative. The FBI agent worked with him to plan an attack on the Springfield Federal Building and procure the supplies to carry it out. On September 24, 2009, Finton drove a truck filled with an inert substance that he believed to be "a ton of explosives" to the federal courthouse building, parked, locked it, and left in another vehicle driven by the undercover FBI agent. Finton tried to detonate the dummy explosives remotely via cell-phone. He was arrested and placed in federal custody on charges of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

and attempting to kill a federal employee."Decatur man arrested for attempting to bomb Springfield federal building"
SJR

Legal proceedings

Finton was indicted by a federal

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

on October 8, 2009, for attempted murder and attempting to use a

weapon of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures ( ...

against property owned and used by the US. On May 9, 2011, he pleaded guilty and was immediately sentenced to 28 years in prison.
CNN] "Man sentenced to 28 years for plotting to bomb federal courthouse"], CNN News'', May 9, 2011 He was imprisoned at

USP Florence High The United States Penitentiary, Florence High (USP Florence High) is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States United States Departm ...

. On June 27, 2021, Finton was transferred to USP Big Sandy with BOP# 17031-026.

References

External links

"Criminal Complaint," in USA v. Finton (September 24, 2009), The NEFA Foundation"Indictment," in USA v. Finton (October 7, 2009), The NEFA Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finton, Michael C. Living people 1980 births People from Decatur, Illinois American Islamists People from Visalia, California People from Warren, Michigan Anwar al-Awlaki Converts to Islam