Convicted terrorist begins 28-year sentence

SPRINGFIELD — A man convicted of plotting to blow up the federal building in Springfield began serving a 28-year prison sentence this week.

The Pantagraph reports ( http://bit.ly/ofCfke ) that Michael C. Finton reported to the federal prison at Marion on Tuesday. A prison spokesman said he will be assigned a job such as landscaping or food service.

The former Decatur fry cook pleaded guilty in May to working with undercover federal officers whom he thought were al-Qaida terrorists. He thought he was detonating a bomb with a cell phone but the explosives were fake and Finton was arrested.

Court records indicate Finton was in state prison for aggravated robbery and aggravated battery from 1999 to 2005. In prison he converted to Islam and started using the name Talib Islam.