Alleged American Jihad-Enthusiast Plans to Plead Guilty

An alleged jihad-enthusiast The Blaze has been following since last year decided to plead guilty to charges that he encouraged attacks on public buildings and military facilities, transportation systems, cellphone towers and water plants in the United States via online postings. He has not agreed, however, to plead guilty to charges of distributing information about explosives and weapons of mass destruction, which are more serious and carry a 20-year maximum sentence.

During his time as an undergrad at Penn State University, Emerson Begolly wrote chilling anti-Semitic lines and eerie odes to extremist groups and leaders -- Osama bin Laden, for one -- under the pen name Asadullah Alshishani.

A few lines from a song he posted in December 2010:

Blow their heads right off their shoulders

Grab my Gun and my Ammo

Strap my kamarband onto my chest

Get dressed up in my camo

Martyrdom is what I wanted best

If that's not troubling enough, here's the the video he devoted to his admiration of Osama bin Laden, witch includes the line: Osama bin Ladin O, how I love you!

Only weeks after Begolly posted that video, we reported that police arrested him and charged him with biting two FBI agents. They were reportedly struggling to keep Begolly from grabbing a loaded 9 mm pistol in his jacket when the young man attacked the agents. In the AP video about the assault, you can see Begolly practicing with everything from a small hand gun to an AK-47:

Begolly, who remains incarcerated, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia last month on charges he encouraged attacks on public buildings and military facilities, transportation systems, cellphone towers and water plants in the United States on posts to the Ansar al-Mujahideen English Forum.

According to a document signed by Begolly on Monday and filed on Tuesday with the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., he intends to plead guilty to the first count of that indictment after the case is transferred to U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh.

The count to which Begolly, 22, will plead guilty carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but he has not agreed to plead guilty to the more serious count of distributing information about explosives and weapons of mass destruction, which carries a 20-year maximum sentence. That likely means federal prosecutors are prepared to drop that charge.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.