Texas Teen Terror Suspect Heads to Court

DALLAS (AP) _ A Jordanian teenager accused of trying to blow up a downtown Dallas building with a car bomb is expected to be in court Friday morning.

Federal agents arrested 19-year-old Hosam Maher Husein Smadi on Thursday on charges alleging he plotted to bomb a downtown Dallas skyscraper.

Federal officials say the case has no connection with the major terrorism investigation under way in Colorado and New York or the Thursday arrest of a man facing similar charges in Springfield, Illinois.

A statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas says Smadi was arrested Thursday after placing what he thought was a bomb at the 60-story Fountain Place office tower. The decoy device was given to him by an undercover FBI agent.

The FBI has been monitoring the man, who lived in the small north Texas town of Italy.

He’s charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Court documents don’t list a defense attorney.

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