http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0509/ ... 301383.htm

Friday, September 2, 2005


ID thief gets 78 months

The Moroccan national's testimony helped derail federal terror prosecution.

By Ronald J. Hansen / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Youssef Hmimssa, an expert identity thief who lied in connection with terrorism-related charges against four immigrants, was sentenced Thursday to 78 months in federal prison for a dozen felonies.

The Moroccan national said nothing and showed no emotion as U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen ordered him to serve the maximum term allowed under a plea agreement reached between Hmimssa and federal prosecutors.

"It's obvious to the court that you and the truth are complete strangers to each other," Rosen told Hmimssa before handing down his sentence. "I believe, sir, you are a pathological liar."

It brought to a close the four-year saga of a mysterious computer whiz who traveled to North Africa, Europe and the American Midwest using a passel of aliases and phony IDs drifting from scam to scam.

Hmimssa, 34, was the key witness for the U.S. government in its case against four men charged in Detroit with supporting terrorism. The 2003 trial was the first post-September 11 terror trial in the nation and resulted in a pair of convictions that were later overturned when prosecutors conceded the case was fraught with errors, including unreliable testimony from Hmimssa.

Under the agreement with prosecutors, Hmimssa pleaded guilty to 11 theft-related felonies.

The other four immigrants were arrested Sept. 17, 2001, after authorities raided a flophouse in southwest Detroit, hoping to find the No. 27 man on the FBI's terror watch list. Instead, FBI agents found phony IDs created by Hmimssa. Hmimssa was arrested 11 days later in Cedar Rapids. While awaiting trial, Hmimssa told fellow inmate Milton "Butch" Jones he didn't know of any terrorist activities involving the other men. Still, Hmimssa, in a deal to cut his own sentence, later testified.

Jones shared the information with prosecutors, who didn't reveal it to Rosen until after the terror trial. Two of the men convicted in the case now face prosecution on fraud charges.

Hmimssa faces deportation after he's released.