A former laborer at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island and nuclear power plants in New Jersey and Maryland who is accused of murdering a man during a shootout in a Yemeni hospital is likely to be held and tried by authorities in Yemen rather than sent back to the United States, according to a U.S. government official. The official, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said that U.S. authorities at present had no charges pending against Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old American of Somali descent, who was raised Muslim. According to the New York Daily News, Mobley was one of several suspected Al Qaeda members arrested by Yemeni authorities in an antiterrorist crackdown earlier this month. News reports say that while being treated in a hospital in Sana, the Yemeni capital, he tried to escape, shooting and killing a guard in the process. Yemeni authorities are likely to try him locally for killing the guard—which could carry a death sentence if he is convicted.
The Daily News reported that he moved to Yemen two years ago to study the Quran and the Arabic language. Joe Delmar, a spokesman for the nuclear division of Public Service Electric and Gas, a major New Jersey utility, confirmed in a written statement that Mobley had worked as a laborer for "a variety of contractors" hired by the utility between 2002 and 2008. The statement said that Mobley had passed federal security checks required for nuclear workers, his most recent vetting being in 2008. The utility said that while working for PSE&G contractors, Mobley "did routine labor work carrying supplies and assisting maintenance activities," and that his work at the utility mainly occurred during what were described as "refueling outages." The utility also said that Mobley had worked at other nuclear plants in the region. Delmar declined to answer any further questions. A spokeswoman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission confirmed to Declassified that Mobley had worked as a laborer at five nuclear plants, including Three Mile Island, and that he had passed relevant background and psychological evaluations.
A spokesman for the FBI in Baltimore acknowledged that his office was involved in an investigation related to Mobley but refused to disclose further details. But another U.S. law-enforcement official, who asked for anonymity, said: "The U.S. government is in the process of reviewing his past activities in the United States, including his employment as a contract laborer at several U.S. nuclear power plants between 2002 and 2008. At this time, we are not aware of any security-related concerns or incidents related to Mr. Mobley's employment at these locations; however we continue to review his past activities."
The Daily News said that Mobley in 2002 had graduated from a high school in southern New Jersey and subsequently been involved in organizing religious pilgrimages to the Middle East for other American Muslims. According to CBS News, Mobley's mother, Cynthia Mobley, was quoted by WMGM-TV, an Atlantic City, N.J. broadcaster, saying that her son was "an excellent person who's never been in trouble" and "a good Muslim." His father, Charles Mobley, has been quoted as saying that his son was not a terrorist. Mobley himself has made no public comment since his arrest.
In a January report, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee alleged that U.S. authorities were concerned about the presence in Yemen of "as many as three dozen" American ex-convicts who had reportedly moved there after becoming radicalized in prison; the Senate report also said American authorities were concerned about approximately 10 Americans who had moved to Yemen, converted to Islam, and married local women, fitting what the committee said was "a profile of Americans whom Al Qaeda has sought to recruit over the past several years." There is no indication, however, that Mobley was a member of either of these specific groups of American émigrés in Yemen.
