Free Republic

A 21-year-old loner from Armstrong County had an arsenal in his bedroom, a radical Islamist online persona and videos suggesting paramilitary training before his arrest last week for biting two FBI agents, federal prosecutors charged in court Thursday. As a result, Emerson W. Begolly will remain in jail pending trial, U.S. District Judge Maurice B. Cohill decided, over the strenuous objections of a defense attorney who said his client was nonviolent. A magistrate judge's decision last week to ship him to a halfway house, which was stayed during its appeal, was shelved. Mr. Begolly "has a strong desire to kill...

PITTSBURGH -- A hearing was held Thursday in federal court for a Harrison Township man who the FBI said posted extremist views online under an alias and bit two agents while in possession of a loaded gun. Channel 4 Action News' Sheldon Ingram reported that the FBI laid out Emerson Begolly's profile in court, and they want to know if he's a dangerous sympathizer for Islamic extremists or someone in need of psychiatric care. Ingram reported that Begolly, of the Natrona Heights area, was a student at Penn State New Kensington but left school. Penn State officials said he had...

A western Pennsylvania man posted pro-terrorist songs and statements online under an alias and faces a detention hearing Thursday on charges he bit two FBI agents while carrying a loaded gun. (edit)  A federal magistrate will be asked to keep Begolly in jail until he can stand trial on charges filed Wednesday by the FBI. Begolly, 21, was arrested Tuesday by two FBI agents in New Bethlehem, about 50 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The agents were conducting an unspecified investigation of him, according to a criminal complaint filed late Wednesday. The agents found Begolly sitting alone in the front seat...