Muslim Convert Arrested by NYPD in Terror Plot (Includes Video Of Press Conference)

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Although you wouldn't know he was a Muslim convert from many of the news reports,  27-year-old Jose Pimentel, a loner who lives with his mother in Washington Heights was charged with making pipe bombs after a year-long investigation by the NYPD

According to initial reports Pimentel spent much of his time on the Internet, according to sources, and regularly visited TrueIslam1, a radical website that describes itself as a "blog setup to educate people about the True Religion of Islam as revealed to the Last Prophet Muhammad."

He is charged with criminal possession of a weapon and terrorism charges, and he allegedly had the materials to make a bomb when arrested, according the criminal complaint.

Investigators have reviewed audio and video recordings of the defendant discussing plans to build a bomb and use it to assassinate members of the military returning from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, the complaint said.

 Apparently Jose went over the edge when he learned of the Sept. 30 death of al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen by a U.S. drone strike according to what NYPD  Commissioner Ray Kelly said tonight at the press conference announcing the arrest.  He went on to say that police had to step in quickly to stop Pimentel because he was in the process of making a bomb device. Kelly said Pimentel had followed the online magazine from Awlaki including an article, "How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom."

"He was drilling the holes and it would have been not appropriate to let him walk out the door with the bomb, so a decision was made to act quickly," Kelly said. Pimentel "talked about killing US servicemen returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly US army and marine corps personnel. He talked about bombing post offices in and around Washington Heights and police cars in New York City, as well as a police station in New Jersey," the police chief said.

At one point, Pimentel considered changing his name to Osama Hussein after his heroes, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, Kelly said but neither the AP nor Reuters though his newly adopted religion was important enough to mention in their original reports.