DaytonDailyNews.com

Former Beavercreek resident Ali Kareem Aladimi fought for years to withdraw his 2004 guilty pleas and win a trial on federal drug, stolen property and money laundering charges. Now, just weeks before his trial was to begin, he has pleaded guilty again.

The reason? "It's obvious," said his attorney, Patrick J. Hanley of Covington, Ky. "Because he's guilty."

Aladimi, 45, entered guilty pleas to three counts of a 63-count federal indictment and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson of Cincinnati. He agreed to a forfeiture of money, drugs and merchandise worth $1.5 million, including nearly $800,000 in cash seized by federal agents in 1999 from the basement of his home at 2916 Forest Glen Court. The plea and sentencing occurred Friday, but court documents were made public this week.

Federal prosecutors said they had evidence that Aladimi had ties to Hamas and may have been using his criminal enterprises to finance terrorists in his native Yemen. But they never carried out threats of adding terrorism-related charges.

Aladimi already has served nearly five years and, under federal sentencing guidelines, could spend as little as 15 more months in a federal prison before being released to a halfway house and eventual freedom, Hanley said. Had he gone to trial and been convicted, Aladimi could have faced 22 years in prison.

"It's a far cry from what the government originally wanted," Hanley said. "I definitely think he was overcharged." He said the government "never presented an iota of evidence" that Aladimi funded terrorists.

Hanley also said the feds persecuted Aladimi because of his Middle Eastern origins. "Mr. Aladimi did some things wrong, but it's unmistakable that the fact that he's of Arabic descent played a role."

Nonsense, said spokesman Fred Alverson of the U.S. attorney's office in Columbus. "We prosecute on facts, not on anybody's ethnic or religious background."

Authorities in late 2002 executed search warrants on Aladimi's Twins Wholesale warehouse in Butler County's West Chester Twp. and seized stolen baby food and large quantities of pseudoephedrine, an over-the-counter medication used to manufacture methamphetamine.

In his plea, Aladimi admitted to selling $1.7 million worth of pseudoephedrine knowing it would be used to make meth, then sending proceeds to a bank in Yemen in amounts under $10,000 to avoid reporting requirements. He also admitted to interstate trafficking of stolen baby products and other merchandise.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com.