Virginia

ID case brings guilty plea

A man whose past association with Sept. 11 ringleader Mohammed Atta has troubled federal authorities pleaded guilty Monday to one count of document fraud.

At a plea hearing, Agus Budiman, 31, of Alexandria admitted that in November 2000 he helped a man who has been linked to Osama bin Laden, Mohammad bin Nasser Belfas, obtain an ID card from Virginia by falsely certifying that Belfas was a Virginia resident.

Budiman admitted to authorities that he knew Atta from a mosque they attended in Hamburg, Germany, and that he once helped Atta move into an apartment there in 1998. In addition, one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Ziad Jarrah, listed Budiman’s address on his visa application to enter the United States.

Budiman faces a maximum of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced April 26. But federal sentencing guidelines make it likely he’ll receive a sentence of six to 12 months. He has already been in jail four months since his Oct. 30 arrest.

Washington, D.C.

Government steps up efforts to hire airport screeners

Newly trained federal employees could start checking passengers and luggage this spring, Transportation Department officials said Monday in announcing that they will start hiring more than 30,000 security screeners.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the first screeners could be at airports in April or May. “I want to underscore my commitment to hire the best and the brightest,” he said Monday.

The 15 airports to get federal security screeners first will be Anchorage, Alaska; Atlanta; Baltimore-Washington; Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago O’Hare; Dallas-Fort Worth; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Louisville, Ky.; Minneapolis; Mobile, Ala.; New York Kennedy; Orlando, Fla.; San Francisco; and Spokane, Wash.

Florida

Immigration power expands

In an unprecedented move in the war on terrorism, the U.S. government is drafting a plan that would allow Florida authorities to arrest illegal immigrants deemed threats to national security.

At least 15 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers had Florida connections, including three who were in the country on expired visas.

New York City

Fake firefighter sentenced

A man who posed as a visiting firefighter after Sept. 11 was sentenced Monday to one to three years in prison for theft and planning fraud.

Jerome Brandl, 34, pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of stolen property and scheming to defraud. He had no comment in court.

Brandl posed as a volunteer firefighter from Milwaukee and was hosted by a firehouse for a week in late September during the rescue effort surrounding the World Trade Center collapse.

He traveled to ground zero with real firefighters, took in donations from community members, was given free admission to a New York Mets baseball game and stole a Fire Department parking plaque, prosecutors said.

Brandl faces similar scam charges in Wisconsin and Tennessee.