Terry Lee Loewen, a Wichita Man, Sentenced to 20 Years for Plotting to Explode Car Bomb at Airport

A Wichita man working as an avionic technician for an aeronautics company and possessing restricted access to secure airport areas, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison today for attempting to explode a car bomb at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.

WICHITA, KANSAS, December 13, 2013 – Terry Lee Loewen, 60, pleaded guilty on June 8 to one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Loewen was arrested in December 2013 when he tried to enter the grounds of the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport for the purpose of exploding a bomb. In his plea, Loewen admitted he came to the attention of the FBI late in May 2013 when he became a Facebook friend of a person who was posting comments advocating violent jihad.

“Terry Loewen abused his privileged airport access to attempt to perpetrate a terrorist attack in Wichita,” said Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin. “The National Security Division’s highest priority is protecting the United States against terrorist threats – both international and domestic. We will continue to pursue justice against those who seek to carry out violent attacks against Americans, whether at home or abroad.”

Senior U.S. District Judge Monti L. Belot of the District of Kansas sentenced Loewen to 20 years in federal prison. The investigation was led by the Wichita FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes members from the FBI, the Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sheriff’s Office and Kansas Highway Patrol.

Terry Lee Loewen, a 60-year-old Wichita man, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction on December 13, 2013. Loewen, an avionic technician for an aeronautics company, was arrested in December 2013 for trying to enter the grounds of the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport to explode a bomb. He pleaded guilty on June 8 to one count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The investigation was led by the Wichita FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and Assistant Attorney General John P. Carlin commended the efforts of the task force and the prosecutors on the case, Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Smith and Tony Mattivi of the District of Kansas and Trial Attorney Erin Creegan of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

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