Arizona terror conspirator sentenced to 8 years in prison

PHOENIX — An Arizona man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for plotting a terror attack on a state government office in the Phoenix area.

Mahin Khan, 18, was sentenced Friday in a Phoenix courtroom. It was the first terrorism prosecution at Arizona’s state level. A federal jury in Phoenix convicted a Valley ISIS supporter on terror charges in March.

Khan, from Tucson, agreed to a plea deal in October to charges of terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism. He was arrested in July and originally pleaded not guilty to felony charges.

Arizona Attorney General Mark Bronovich said the young man was to have supervised probation the rest of his life.

Under the agreement with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, Khan was to serve a prison term of no less than seven years and no more than 14 years on the conspiracy to commit terrorism charge.

The young man had planned to attack a motor vehicle office in Mesa and a Jewish community center. He had told an undercover FBI operative to start making grenades.

The federal agency also said Khan had contacted someone online it believed to be a member of ISIS.

Agent Benjamin Trentlage testified that Khan, a self-professed supporter of ISIS, described the motor vehicle office as a “soft target.”

According to court papers, the FBI had been keeping an eye on Khan after he had been talking about targeting an Air Force recruitment office in Tucson.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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