RIVERSIDE – (INT) – It’s been nearly 5-years since the terrorist attack at the Inland Regional Center. On Friday the only surviving individual most closely connected to the horrific event was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

Enriquez Marquez, Jr., 28, pleaded guilty to providing two assault rifles to Syed Rizwan Farook. More than 3-years later, Farook and his wife used the firearms in the shooting rampage that left 14 people dead and 22 others injured.

The couple was killed later that same day in December 2015 in a shootout with law enforcement in San Bernardino.

Marquez also admitted conspiring with Farook as far back as 2011 to attack Riverside City College and commuter traffic on the 91 Freeway. Those incidents were never carried out.

“By his own admissions, this defendant collaborated with and purchased weapons for a man he definitively knew held radical and anti-American beliefs – and who wanted to kill innocent people,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Wilkison.

Marquez has been in custody since shortly after the attack. US District Court Judge Jesus Bernal denied Marquez’s request for a five-year sentence. Marquez will be on supervised probation for 15 years after completing his jail term.

In a pair of related prosecutions, three people have pleaded guilty to being part of a sham marriage scheme in which a Russian woman “married” Marquez to obtain immigration benefits.

In another case stemming from the shooting investigation, the mother of Syed Rizwan Farook has pleaded guilty to a charge of intending to impede the federal criminal investigation by shredding a map her son made in connection with the 2015 attack. Rafia Sultana Shareef, a.k.a. Rafia Farook, 67, of Corona, is awaiting sentencing.

Story Date: October 25, 2020