House search part of inquiry

The FBI removes items from a home where an explosives suspect had planned to rent a room.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET, Times Staff Writer
Published August 13, 2007

TEMPLE TERRACE - One of the University of South Florida students accused of carrying explosives in a car near a South Carolina naval base last week had planned to move into a home FBI investigators searched Saturday.

But Noor Salhab, a Realtor who owns the house at 12402 Pampas Place, said Sunday that he had not yet performed a background check on Ahmed Mohamed or received a rent check from the graduate student.

"I don't know the guy. I never met the guy. He's in South Carolina," said Salhab, 53. "If he's innocent, he will be free. If he's guilty, he'll get what he deserves."

Speaking at a news conference Sunday, Salhab said a tenant in the house had allowed Mohamed to move some personal belongings into the garage.

The tenant was a friend of Mohamed, and had asked if Mohamed could move into a vacant room there. Salhab said he had planned to screen Mohamed on Aug. 6 or 7.

Salhab did not specify the tenant's name. Ahmed Bedier, executive director of Tampa's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the tenant was Ahmad Ishtay. In July, Tampa police cited Ishtay and Mohamed for shooting squirrels in a park.

Salhab said he and his family have lived in Temple Terrace for more than 20 years, and he stressed that they were not targets of the federal raid. FBI investigators, he said, were merely trying to retrieve Mohamed's belongings.

But he said his family owned most of the items investigators seized - including a gas tank for his lawn mower, his son's computer and PVC piping he was using for home improvement projects.

"We respect the work of the police and will cooperate at every step to make sure that this nation and community is safe," Salhab said.

FBI spokesman Dave Couvertier said the Pampas Place home was the focus of Saturday's search, but he said he did not know what items investigators removed or why they took them.

Saturday morning's FBI search was the latest step in an investigation that started Aug. 4, after deputies arrested Mohamed and Youssef Megahed, 21, in Goose Creek, S.C., on charges of possession of an explosive device.

A deputy stopped the Toyota Camry Mohamed was driving and accused him of going 60 in a 45 mph zone. According to an arrest affidavit, the deputy searched the car and found what he believed was a pipe bomb in the trunk.

Last week, FBI investigators removed computers from Megahed's family's Tampa home.

Family members visited him in a South Carolina detention center last week, and have said they believe evidence will exonerate him.

Salhab said Sunday that he purchased the house in 1987. For nearly a year, he said, it has been on the market. In the meantime, his son, Ghassan Salhab, 27, lives there with roommates.

Ghassan Salhab said he had seen Megahed at the house, but he said he had not seen Mohamed there.

"Usually, when I come in I go straight to my room," he said.

Noor Salhab said investigators had never searched the house while his family lived there. He said he did not know whether any investigations had taken place when he lived in Jordan for four years in the 1990s.

"I have full faith in the FBI that they will follow all leads. They have to do their jobs," said Bedier, who helped Salhab organize Sunday's news conference.

"Whatever the two USF students did, they should be held accountable," he said. "But it should not be based on suspicion. It should be based on evidence."

Mohamed and Megahed remained in jail Sunday.

Times staff writer Abbie VanSickle contributed to this story. Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 813 661-2454.

[Last modified August 12, 2007, 23:02:15]