Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
Two young men from New Jersey were charged in connection with the alleged Halloween terrorist plot in Michigan, acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said Wednesday. On Thursday, Rowan University in Glassboro announced that one of its students, who was not named, had been arrested this week by the FBI for suspected “terroristic intentions.” Tomas Kaan Jimenez-Guzal, 19, a Montclair Township native who recently moved to Glassboro, is accused along with Saed Ali Mirreh, 19, of Kent, Wash., of using “encrypted messaging applications to plan travel to Turkey and then to Syria to join ISIS as fighters,” Habba said in a video statement posted on X. Jimenez-Guzal is charged with conspiring to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, Habba said. Milo Sedarat, 21, also of Montclair, is charged with “two counts of transmitting threats to interstate and foreign commerce,” Habba said. The complaint against Sedarat “describes a pattern of anti-semitic messages advocating violence along with images and purchases consistent with preparation for attack, including a knife and sword collection, tactical gear, and images of him practicing at a gun range,” Habba said. In the criminal complaint against Jimenez-Guzal and Mirreh, the two man are accused of being in contact with the alleged conspirators in Michigan who were planning possible attacks on LGBTQ+ bars in suburban Detroit and an amusement park in Ohio. Jimenez-Guzal and Mirreh are both U.S. citizens, the complaint said. The complaint does not identify Sedarat by name, but mentions a coconspirator in New Jersey who had been in regular contact with Jimenez-Guzal since 2024 “regarding their shared intent to travel abroad in order to engage in violent jihad.” Jimenez-Guzal, who played football at Montclair High School, was arrested Tuesday at Newark Liberty International Airport, where he allegedly was trying to take a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, as part of his plan to join ISIS in Syria, the complaint said. Early that morning, Jimenez-Guzal was under surveillance by the FBI and was seen leaving his residence in Glassboro and walking to a bus stop, the complaint said. “After waiting, he then got into a vehicle, presumably an Uber, which took him to 30th Street Station, the Amtrak train station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” the complaint said. Jimenez-Guzal then took a train to the Newark airport. According to Habba, from around Oct. 4, 2024, to Nov. 4, 2025, Jimenez-Guzal and Mirreh “discussed detailed travel plans, physical training, weapons, including firearms and IEDs [improvised explosive devices], and methods to avoid law enforcement detection.” “According to the complaint, they pledged themselves to ISIS and were plotting acts of terrorism in our country,” Habba said. “The messages also included photographs of Jimenez-Guzal standing in front of the ISIS flag holding a knife, and Mirreh wearing an ISIS hat,” Habba said. In his communications, Jimenez-Guzal volunteered to commit beheadings, the complaint said. Jimenez-Guzal and Sedarat were in custody in New Jersey and Mirreh was in custody in Washington, Habba said. Sedarat, who also attended Montclair High School and was a wrestler, is the son of Roger Sedarat, an Iranian American poet who teaches at Queens College in New York City. On Thursday, the president of Rowan University, Ali A. Houshmand, issued a statement saying that a student who was a resident of Montclair had been arrested by the FBI. Houshmand did not identify the student, but described the person as an “individual suspected of terroristic intentions.” Houshmand said the FBI notified the university that it was investigating a student prior to the arrest. “At no time during the investigation was there ever a threat to the University community,” Houshmand said. The complaint said that in late August Jimenez-Guzal began undergraduate studies at a local university, which it did not name, and moved to Glassboro.
