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Judge: No Bail For Megahed

Youssef Megahed / Ahmed Mohamed

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2007

Updated: 10/25/2007 05:34 pm

Special Report | Read The Judge's Order

TAMPA - A University of South Florida student charged with transporting explosives will not be released on bail, a federal judge ruled today.

In ruling that Youssef Megahed poses a risk of flight and a danger to the community, Judge Steven D. Merryday overturned a Sept. 14 ruling by a federal magistrate who said the defendant could be released on $200,000 bail under strict conditions.

But Merryday wrote in a 25-page ruling that no conditions would stop Megahed if he "wants to blow something up or cause a disturbance … I am unwilling at the prospective cost of property damage, injury or death to assume he will not do so."

Megahed was arrested Aug. 4 in South Carolina, along with Ahmed Mohamed, after deputies said they found explosives in the trunk of the car in which the two men were riding. The car, registered to Megahed's brother, was being driven by Mohamed.

Mohamed has waived his right to a bail hearing. Both defendants are Egyptian nationals; Megahed is a legal permanent resident and Mohamed is here on a student visa.

Both are charged with illegally transporting explosives. Mohamed also is charged with trying to help terrorists by teaching or demonstrating the use of explosives. Authorities allege Mohamed posted a video to the Web site YouTube in which Mohamed showed how to use a remote-controlled toy to detonate a bomb.

"The evidence fails to establish or even suggest any innocent or wholesome explanation for the events that led to Megahed's arrest," Merryday wrote.

"Guns, explosives, fuses, canisters of gasoline, ammunition, welding equipment, GPS devices, all-night interstate drives to an unstated and indeterminate destination, stops to check gun prices and availability, and computers with a recent history of visits to sites that feature the advocates and the means of violence are not attributes that a disinterested but cautious observer associates with a safe and tranquil citizen of the community," the judge said.

"Rather, a person about whom these attributes are discovered is a person whose means, motive and degree of determination are unknown and unpredictable and who is highly suspicious and threatening."

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