WASHINGTON - A Liberian man, Kelvin Kamara, has pleaded guilty to a scheme to extort $2 million in ransom money for kidnapped Christian Science Monitor journalist Jill Carroll, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor of the District of Columbia and Acting Assistant Director in Charge Joseph Persichini Jr. of the FBI’s Washington Field Office announced today.

Kamara, 27, a Liberian national, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier today to transmitting ransom demands in interstate and foreign commerce. Kamara will be sentenced on Dec. 8, 2006. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and under the terms of his plea agreement, a likely sentence of 33 months of incarceration.

“The United States will not tolerate the actions of those who try to profit from the tragic circumstances of others,” stated U.S. Attorney Taylor. “As a result of the extraordinary assistance from the German government, we were able to bring Mr. Kamara to justice, despite the fact that he was committing his crime from abroad.”

“The crime committed by Mr. Kamara further victimized Jill Carroll, her family and associates,” said FBI Acting Assistant Director in Charge Persichini. “Today’s plea is the result of the efforts of law enforcement working together from opposite parts of the world to end that victimization.”

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According to the government’s proffer of evidence at today’s plea hearing, on Jan. 7, 2006, armed gunmen in Iraq kidnapped Jill Carroll. At the time, Carroll was working as a freelance journalist for The Christian Science Monitor.

On Feb. 12, 2006, Kamara, who was then residing in Germany, sent an e-mail to the Washington, D.C. Bureau of The Christian Science Monitor. Using the alias “Saidu Mohammed,” Kamara wrote:

I can give you informations (sic) to secure the release of jill carroll, i am mujaheeden and i can give every information that can lead to securing her release . . . . i am impatiently waiting to read from you for further directives and negotiations . . . . saidu mohammed

The e-mail was false. Kamara had no association with the real kidnappers, nor was he even in Iraq.

On Feb. 14, 2006, Kamara, continuing to pose as “Saidu Mohammed,” sent the Washington Bureau Chief of The Christian Science Monitor an e-mail demanding $2 million in ransom money “or else Jill is likely to become history.”

Over the next month, Kamara, by phone and e-mail, made repeated demands to The Christian Science Monitor for $2 million in ransom to secure the release of Jill Carroll. He also repeatedly claimed that Carroll would die if he did not receive the ransom money.

The German police, through electronic monitoring, were able to trace the phone that Kamara was using to call The Christian Science Monitor’s Washington Bureau Chief to an apartment in Muenster, Germany. By similar means, the German police were also able to determine that several of the ransom e-mails that Kamara sent emanated from a computer located in the same apartment.

On March 16, 2006, the German police searched the apartment in Muenster, Germany. Kamara was present when the police arrived. During the search, they discovered the telephone that Kamara was using to contact The Christian Science Monitor. A search of a computer seized in the apartment revealed that it contained several of the e-mails that Kamara had sent to The Christian Science Monitor’s Washington Bureau.

Pursuant to a request from the United States, the German authorities arrested Kamara on March 16, 2006. He was extradited to the United States on Aug. 25, 2006.

In announcing today’s plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor and Acting Assistant Director Persichini praised the investigate work of FBI Special Agent Charles Price and Assistant Legal Attaché Kristen McClaren, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay I. Bratt, who is prosecuting the case. They also expressed their gratitude for the excellent assistance provided by Michael Heller of the Hessiisches Landeskriminalamt.