Arifeen David Gojali, a 21-year-old Riverside resident, appeared at U.S. District Court in Riverside for a detention hearing. A federal magistrate will consider whether to let him post bond.
Gojali, Ralph Deleon and Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales were charged Nov. 16 following an FBI investigation. They are accused, along with alleged ring leader Sohiel Omar Kabir, of planning to go to Afghanistan, join the Taliban and kill U.S. soldiers.
Deleon and Vidriales are being held without bail. Kabir, formerly of Pomona, is in federal custody in his native Afghanistan.
According to the FBI, Vidriales once told an FBI undercover agent in an online conversation that he wanted to commit jihad and expressed interest in a jihadist training camp in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
Authorities allege Kabir traveled to Afghanistan and communicated with Vidriales and Deleon over the Internet so he could arrange for their travel to join him and meet with his contacts for terror organizations. They later recruited Gojali.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next Monday. If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison.
