Enrique Marquez

CALIFORNIA – The man accused of furnishing assault rifles to the
husband and wife who massacred 14 people in San Bernardino, California, pleaded
not guilty on Wednesday to charges of conspiring with one of the killers in a
previous plot.

Enrique Marquez, 24, has been indicted on charges he conspired
with Syed Rizwan Farook, in 2011 and 2012 to provide material support to
terrorists – weapons, explosives and personnel – for attacks that were never
carried out.

A hearing in the case was set for Feb. 8 with a trial scheduled
for Feb. 23.

The five-count indictment also charges that Marquez, a former
neighbor and friend of Farook, entered a sham marriage with a Russian immigrant
– whose sister is married to Farook’s older brother – so that she could live in
the United States.

Marquez also is accused of lying on a federal firearms form when
he bought assault rifles for Farook – one each in 2001 and 2012. Those guns,
which the indictment said Marquez falsely claimed he purchased for himself,
were used by Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, both militant
Muslims, in the San Bernardino shooting rampage last month.

Marquez, who has been ordered held without bond, pleaded not
guilty to the charges at an arraignment in federal court in Riverside, east of
Los Angeles.

Authorities say Farook and Malik opened fire at a holiday
gathering of Farook’s co-workers on Dec. 2, killing 14 people and wounding 22.
Farook, the U.S.-born son of Pakistani immigrants, and Malik, a Pakistani
native he married in Saudi Arabia in 2014, died in a shootout with police four
hours after the massacre.

Authorities have said the couple were inspired by Islamic
extremism and called their rampage the deadliest such attack on U.S. soil since
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Marquez called
911-emergency operators after the San Bernardino slayings to say he wanted to
kill himself, admitting he had bought a weapon used by Farook. Marquez then
checked himself into a mental health facility.

FBI agents subsequently raided his home and questioned him for
several days before he was arrested. Sources have said Marquez was cooperative
during his interviews.

The indictment was returned by a grand jury last week,
superseding similar charges contained in a criminal complaint filed at the time
of his arrest.