A former neighbour accused of supplying assault rifles to the couple who massacred 14 people in San Bernardino, has been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.
Enrique Marquez, 24, has been charged with conspiring with San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizwan Farook in 2011 and 2012 to support a terrorist attack that was never carried out.
Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, stormed into a holiday party attended by his co-workers at a San Bernardino County social services agency and opened fire on December 2, killing 14 people and wounding 22 others.
Authorities have said the couple were inspired by Islamic extremism, calling it the deadliest such attack on US soil since September 11, 2001.
Marquez was also accused in the indictment, which was handed down in US District Court in Los Angeles on Wednesday, of lying to federal authorities about the purchase of two assault rifles used by Farook and his wife in the San Bernardino rampage.
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Marquez is also charged with entering into a sham marriage with a Russian woman in Farook's extended family so she could live in the United States.
The indictment supersedes a criminal complaint containing similar charges filed against Marquez earlier this month and allows prosecutors to proceed to trial without holding a lengthy evidentiary hearing first.
Marquez is being held without bail on those charges.
"Defendant Marquez's extensive plotting with Syed Rizwan Farook in 2011 and 2012, and his purchase of explosive powder and two firearms, provided the foundation for the murders that occurred this month," US Attorney Eileen Decker said in a written statement.
"This indictment is the result of sustained and co-ordinated efforts by many federal and state prosecutors, agents and officers, and I thank them for their efforts."
