Clarion County man jailed in assault on FBI agents

A Penn State University student, who federal agents claim postedanti-Semitic and pro-jihad messages on the Internet, should stay injail on charges of assaulting two FBI agents, a federal prosecutorargued Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Picking said Emerson Begolly,21, of Mayport in Clarion County, frequently told relatives "I'm notlong for this world" and that he wanted to martyr himself by takingothers with him when he killed himself. He was carrying a loaded 9mm pistol when he was arrested Tuesday, she said.

Begolly has not been charged with posting any messages or for thealleged threats told to relatives. Federal Public Defender MarketaSims said the charges arise from the agents' attempt to detainBegolly as part of an investigation into the Internet postings.

Sims said Begolly's Asperger's syndrome -- a mild form of autismthat can be characterized by eccentric behavior -- keeps him in hisroom typing strange things on the Internet, and the government'smain source of information is his estranged mother, Joan Kowalski ofNatrona Heights, who has some kind of relationship with the leadagent in the case, Bradley Orsini.

"I think that what we've got here, as bizarre as it is, is twoparents struggling over a child who is no longer a child," Sims saidduring a detention hearing in federal court Downtown.

The only support for the government's theory that Begolly isdangerous is his struggle with the two agents, she said.

"There's no history of violence. There's a history of being anoddball," the attorney said.

Begolly, who is in the Allegheny County Jail, occasionallywhispered to Sims during his three-hour hearing but did not testify.

Michael Christman, a supervisory special agent for the FBI whowas not involved in the arrest, testified that he did not know thenature of the relationship between Orsini and Kowalski.

"I had heard that Orsini knew the family. I don't know what thatmeans," Christman said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ervin Swearingen set a $25,000 unsecuredbail for Begolly's release on the condition that he stay in theRenewal Center, Downtown, and receive therapy while awaiting trial.The judge agreed to delay the order for 24 hours while thegovernment appeals his decision.

Begolly is accused of biting Orsini and another agent whosurprised him Tuesday as he sat in a car in a Burger King parkinglot in Mayport.

Christman testified that the two agents sought to detain Begollywhile they executed search warrants on his mother's home and hisfather's house in Mayport. The two agents don't recall Begolly'sbiting them, Christman testified, but after a struggle that includedrolling around in the parking lot, they discovered puncture woundson their hands. Both agents eventually sought medical treatment, hesaid.

Christman said he didn't know what crimes the agents wereinvestigating or what evidence they had to support the searchwarrants. He claimed that Begolly had posted a pro-jihad poem underthe name Asadullah Alshishani, citing anonymous Web postingsidentifying it as Begolly's pseudonym.

Kowalski cooperated with the agents. She called her son and toldhim that his grandmother was dying and he needed to see her,Christman said. She picked him up at his father's 100-acre farm andthen stopped at a Burger King, saying that she was going inside toget a tea, and he should stay in the car, Christman said.

He said that when the agents threw open the doors and announcedthemselves, Begolly screamed and reached for a pocket in his jacket.In the pocket was a loaded 9 mm pistol that had a round in thechamber with the safety off. He also had two loaded clips in thejacket.

In addition to the assault charge, he's charged with carrying afirearm to commit a felony.

Shawn Begolly, his father, testified that he and his sonfrequently carried the pistols while walking around his farm as aprecaution against chance encounters with bears, coyotes or otherwildlife. Sometimes they carried rifles or shotguns, he added.

Christman said Kowalski told agents that her son told her that hebelieved he was being watched, and he was armed in case heencountered law enforcement officers.

Christman testified that most of his information about the casecame from Orsini.

During the failed federal prosecution of former Allegheny Countycoroner Dr. Cyril Wecht, the government turned over records showingthat when Orsini was an agent in New Jersey, he had been disciplinedrepeatedly for falsifying records.

Under questioning by Sims, Christman said he knew Orsini had beendisciplined, but did not know the nature of the offenses.

Begolly was a student at Penn State New Kensington from the fallof 2006 until the spring of 2008. Penn State records indicate heattended the University Park main campus from 2008 to 2010 but hadbecome a full-time cyber student last fall in what the school callsits "World Campus."

Begolly's mother is a full professor in the university'sengineering department, and his father has taught business classesfor years on the New Kensington campus; he also works as a computertrainer for businesses.

While attending Penn State, Begolly was interviewed for a January2009 story about a pro-Palestinian rally in University Park. In hestory, he identified himself as a sophomore religion major, said heis of Chechen descent and sympathized with Palestine's situation.His father testified that Begolly's maternal great-grandfather wasChechen.