Jose Pimentel, the “lone wolf” arrested in the terror sting run by the New York Police Department, smoked marijuana with the NYPD’s cooperating informant in the case, an official familiar with the sting tells TPM.
An official with the local prosecutor’s office said they were personally unaware of the marijuana detail on Monday afternoon. The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment. The marijuana detail was also reported by the New York Times on Monday night.
TPM has also learned that Pimentel tried to circumcise himself, though the details of that incident and the timeframe could not immediately be confirmed. The circumcision was also reported in the New York Times, but there are no specifics about when the incident happened. Muslims are typically encouraged to be circumcised.
Those were just some of the issues that led the FBI to pass on the case. As TPM reported, FBI officials were concerned about entrapment issues in the case and did not believe he had the capability of pulling off the bomb plot without the NYPD’s informant.
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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