DNA sought from student
A grand jury in Tampa wants the samples from one of the USF students held in South Carolina.
By KEVIN GRAHAM and COLLEEN JENKINS, Times Staff Writers
Published August 31, 2007
TAMPA - A federal grand jury has ordered a University of South Florida student accused of transporting explosives near a South Carolina naval base to supply DNA and hair samples, according to his attorney.
The subpoena for Youssef Megahed arrived in his lawyer's office Wednesday, the same day at least three men answered questions about him for the Tampa grand jury.
Megahed, 21, and Ahmed Mohamed, 26, remain in jail in rural Moncks Corner, accused of carrying pipe bombs in their trunk.
Heather Hill, a paralegal for Megahed's attorney in Charleston, S. C., said the office had been served the subpoena but she had no idea why.
"We're kind of in the dark about that," she said Thursday. "Nobody's telling us anything."
The attorney, Andrew Savage, also did not know the specifics of the grand jury's investigation, Hill said.
Mohamed's attorney, Lionel S. Lofton, said Thursday that he had not received a subpoena referencing DNA samples for his client. He only became Mohamed's lawyer on Wednesday, he said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the grand jury proceedings.
Tampa lawyer Marcelino J. Huerta III, who is not involved in the case, said the request for DNA might simply be an indication of a conscientious grand jury.
"Because of the black-and-white nature of DNA evidence results, they may be trying to either rule someone into the case or rule someone out of the case," Huerta said. "They may be proceeding very cautiously and insisting on this kind of evidence to be certain of what they're going to do or not going to do."
Ahmed Bedier, executive director of Tampa's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and one of the men who testified before the grand jury, called the questions he answered straightforward.
"I think they're just looking to see what people know," Bedier said.
Noor Salhab, who owns a Temple Terrace home where FBI agents seized property that belonged to Mohamed, also testified. So did Salhab's son, Ghassan, who lived in the house at 12402 Pampas Place when another tenant allowed Mohamed to move his things there. That tenant, Ahmad Ishtay, also was present in the area where grand jury testimony was given, according to the Salhabs' attorney, Brooke Elvington.
Elvington would not comment on the specifics of the Salhabs' testimony but said their time before the grand jury was pretty easy.
She said they couldn't be much help to authorities.
"Neither man ever met or spoke to the two men in question," she said.
It was unclear Thursday whether Ishtay testified or what he might have said. In July, Tampa police accused Ishtay and Mohamed of shooting squirrels in a park.
Federal authorities have released little information since Megahed and Mohamed were arrested Aug. 4. A South Carolina judge will listen to evidence against them at a Sept. 21 court hearing.
Meanwhile, local defense attorneys weren't surprised to hear that a grand jury was impaneled in Tampa for a case initiated by a traffic stop in South Carolina.
"They're from here. There's more than one of them. It's likely that they're investigating some sort of conspiracy charge," said Tampa lawyer Rochelle Reback. "A conspiracy can be charged anywhere where an overt act occurred."
If authorities have evidence that Megahed and Mohamed conducted a local meeting or transaction that furthered a conspiracy, then the students can be charged here even though they were arrested in South Carolina, Reback said.
"Generally, but not always, federal grand juries are impaneled in the federal district where the majority of the alleged criminal acts took place," said Tampa defense lawyer John Fitzgibbons, a former federal prosecutor. "It's so hard speculating in these alleged terrorism cases, because the government keeps the investigation so highly controlled and releases little or no information to the public."
He said the grand jury testimony in Tampa also "may suggest that there's been a shift of the focus in the investigation from South Carolina to the Tampa area."
Two weeks ago, federal investigators released a statement that said, "The FBI would like to remind everyone that this is an ongoing investigation and there is the possibility that the publicly reported allegations involving the students may be proven to be false."
Bedier said he spent his time before the grand jury explaining how he knew the two USF students.
"Most of the conversation I had was already public information," he said. "Just the same things I've already said in the media."
Times staff writer Mike Brassfield contributed to this story.
FAST FACTS
About grand juries
A federal grand jury functions differently from a trial jury. The grand jury does not determine guilt. It typically hears evidence presented by a prosecutor and then decides whether there is reason to believe a crime was committed. If so, it returns a statement of charges called an "indictment," which much then be signed by the U.S. attorney before a person is prosecuted.