An undated photo of Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev with Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Times Square in New York (via??
Authorities have arrested three additional suspects in connection to the Boston Marathon bombings, the Boston Police Department confirmed to Yahoo News. Two of the suspects are Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both Kazakh nationals who attended school with bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. One of their attorneys, Robert Stahl, said his clients will appear in federal court at 3:30pm Wednesday and both plan to plead "not guilty."
The U.S. attorney's office identified the third suspect as Robel Phillipos, a U.S. citizen from Cambridge, Ma., who was arrested today. According to a statement issued by the U.S. Attorney's office, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov, both 19, are being charged with "conspiracy to obstruct justice" for allegedly getting rid of a laptop computer and a backpack belonging to Tsarnaev. Phillipos, who is also 19, was charged with lying to federal investigators during the bombing investigation. If convicted, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov face up to five years in prison apiece and a $250,000 fine, while Philipos could serve up to eight years in prison.
NBC's Pete Williams reported that the suspects are friends of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's from the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. The three have been under FBI surveillance for 10 days and are suspected of aiding Tsarnaev after he allegedly committed his crimes. Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev were detained on civil immigration violations on April 20 and have been in federal custody since then. The two appeared in immigration court Wednesday morning.
Boston attorney Linda Cristello, who represented the two in immigration court, confirmed in an email to Yahoo News that her clients now face additional federal charges and will appear in court Wednesday afternoon. She referred further questions to Stahl and Harlan Protass, criminal defense attorneys who have been tapped to represent the pair on the new charges.
Protass said they will release a more detailed statement after the hearing.
Tsarnaev, a 19-year-old college student, is charged with killing three and injuring more than 200 in the two bombs last month. He is in custody at a federal prison medical facility at Fort Devens, 40 miles outside of Boston, where he is being treated for injuries incurred in a shootout with police before his arrest. His older brother and suspected co-bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed while fleeing arrest.
In a statement, the Police Department said there was no threat to public safety at this time.
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