Youssef Hmimssa
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Youssef Hmimssa is a citizen of Morocco, who was convicted in a Detroit court of fraud and who was a key witness in the case against the Detroit Sleeper Cell.
Hmimssa left Morocco in 1990, when he was 18. He spent the next four years in Europe, using false identity papers under the name Patrick Vuillame.
In 1994 he arrived in the USA. Hmimssa claims that other than living under a false identity he wasn't breaking any laws. He drove a cab, in Chicago, while he took computer classes. In 1999 he received a Microsoft certified assistant engineer certificate.
Hmimssa says he was cheated of two months pay at his last computer job. He said the firm purposely hired illegal immigrants, knowing it could cheat them of their pay, without repercussions. He claimed this drove him to a life of crime.
Hmimssa returned to driving cab, and acquired a clandestine credit card reader, and stole the information necessary to duplicate hundreds of credit cards from his cab fares.
In 2001 he moved to Detroit, where he met the men he testified against in the sleeper cell case. Richard Convertino characterized the defendants as "Takfiris" -- Jihadists so radical they would refrain from praying, and drink alcohol, so they could pass as westernized, secular muslims, in order to plan clandestine terrorist attacks.
But the case unraveled on Hmimssa's testimony.
[edit] Other aliases
- Patrick J. Vuillaume
- Michael Saisa
- Jalali
[edit] References
- ^ Cell phony: Government’s star witness says he’s a scam artist, not a terrorist, Detroit Metro Times, April 16, 2003
- ^ USA v. Karim Kobrouti et al., Findlaw
- ^ Detroit 'Sleeper Cell' Prosecutor Faces Probe: Grand Jury Considering Indictment for Misconduct, Washington Post, November 4, 2005
