Seattle: Convert To Islam Tried To Run Marines Off Highway

By Mike Carter – “An ex-con with possible ties to the alleged Islamist terrorists has pleaded guilty in state court to charges that he tried to run two Marine recruiters off Interstate 5.

Michael Dale McCright, who was known on the Internet as ‘Mikhail Jihad,’ pleaded guilty to charges of felony harrassment and attempted malicious mischief. A plea agreement reached with the King County Prosecutor’s Office spared him a possible life prison term under the state’s ‘three-strikes’ law. McCright has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for first-degree robbery in 2006, assault in 2005.

When the 28-year-old McCright was arrested, investigators said he had a phone that had been used to call Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif. Abdul-Latif and another man were arrested in an FBI-Seattle police sting in June 2011 after allegedly plotting to kill federal employees and military recruits at the Military Entrance Processing Station on East Marginal Way over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

According to the charges against McCright, two Marine sergeants — one in uniform and the other in civilian clothes — were driving north near Northgate on July 12, 2011, when a small blue car came up behind them.

Marine Staff Sgt. Ryan Picklesimer described the driver as a ‘bearded white male wearing a tightfitting, white knit hat.’ The driver slowed, apparently to look at the government plate on Picklesimer’s car, then came alongside and saw the sergeant in his uniform.

‘Picklesimer reported, ‘His eyes widened and he appeared to become angry,’’ and then swerved at the sergeant’s car, forcing Picklesimer to take evasive action to avoid being hit, the charges allege. The sergeant was able to get the car’s license number, and he gave it to police.

McCright, of Lynnwood, admitted last week in King County Superior Court that he had tried to run the car off the road. The crimes carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Prosecutors say they will seek a 54-month sentence when McCright is sentenced [on] June 22.

Abdul-Latif is being prosecuted in federal court. His trial is set for October.” Source – The Seattle Times.