USF student remains in custody

TAMPA -- A suspended University of South Florida student being held on explosives charges was not released from jail after a bail hearing today. A federal judge said he would rule on the bail request for Youssef Megahed after reviewing new evidence presented at a four hour hearing.

Among the information put forth by prosecutors, who don't want Megahed, 21, released, was that he and fellow student Ahmed Mohamed stopped at an Ocala Wal-Mart at 3 a.m. one day on their way to South Carolina in August. Megahed made some inquiries about high-powered rifles and wrote down how much they cost, prosecutors said. The paper was found on him when he was arrested after a traffic stop in Goose Creek, S.C. He and Mohamed have been charged with illegally transporting explosives.

Prosecutors also said Megahed rented a storage unit that no one in his family knew about, where he stored a .22-caliber rifle.

In court, prosecutors showed video of Yahia Megahed, Youssef's 24-year-old brother, sitting at the Falkenburg Road Jail, where he was to visit his brother via video conference link. He is shown making distored faces and saying something in sign language. The government wouldn't say what it meant, but told the judge he was trying to communicate in code to his brother.

But Adam Allen, Megahed's attorney, said that Youssef Megahed was never brought to the other side of the video conferencing unit and that his brother was just making silly faces.

Prosecutors also said Megahed was a flight risk because his family has never owned property in the United States, but owns property in his native Egypt.

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday will consider the evidence along with the decision by Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Jenkins to set bail for Megahed at $200,000. Federal prosecutors had immediately appealed Jenkins' ruling.

Megahed pleaded not guilty to the charge of illegally transporting explosives earlier this week. Co-defendant Mohamed is also charged with demonstrating how to make explosives. John Fitzgibbons, a prominent local attorney who is in the process of being retained by the Egyptian Embassy to represent Mohamed, requested that a hearing for him to enter a plea be delayed until Oct. 17.

Kevin Graham, Times staff writer