Bosnian National Sentenced for Providing Material Support to Terrorists

St. Louis, MO – Armin Harcevic, 41, of Ballwin, MO, appeared today before U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry.  Harcevic was sentenced to 66 months in prison for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and providing material support to terrorists.  Harcevic was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal to begin his sentence immediately. Based on the offenses for which Harcevic was convicted he is subject to deportation and removal from the United States.

According to court documents, Armin Harcevic, Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, his wife Sedina Unkic Hodzic, Nihad Rosic, Jasminka Ramic and Mediha Medy Salkicevic conspired with others to support the activities of Abdullah Ramo Pazara and others, including a conspiracy to commit outside the United States an act that would constitute the offense of murder or maiming if committed in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.  Harcevic intended to and did provide support and resources to Pazara, knowing that he and his co-conspirators would use the support and resources in furtherance of their combat against Syrian government forces and others.  Harcevic’s support consisted of money, which was used by his co-conspirators to purchase supplies such as U.S. military uniforms, rifle scopes, combat boots, tactical gear, clothing, firearms accessories, range finders, and other supplies useful to fighters engaged in combat in Syria and elsewhere.

Co-defendants Ramiz Zijad Hodzic and Sedina Unkic Hodzic are awaiting sentencing; Nihad Rosic is awaiting trial; Jasminka Ramic and Mediha Medy Salkicevic were sentenced to 36 and 78 months in prison, respectively.

This case was investigated by the St. Louis FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), U.S. Postal Inspection Service, St. Louis Metropolitan and St. Louis County Police Departments.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Drake, Howard Marcus and Kenneth Tihen of the Eastern District of Missouri and Trial Attorney Joshua Champagne of the Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section.