According to United States Attorney Carmen Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts, a man from Quincy, Massachusetts, has been charged with obstructing the investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings. In a press release prosecutors Friday said:
"The indictment does not charge Matanov with participating in the Marathon bombings or knowing about them ahead of time."
Khairullozhon Matanov, 23, is charged with with one count of destroying, altering, and falsifying records, documents, and tangible objects in a federal investigation, specifically information on his computer, and three counts of making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements in a federal terrorism investigation.
Prosecutors allege that in the days after the April 2013 bombings, Matanov realized the FBI would want to talk with him because he knew the suspects and shared their "philosophical justification for violence." He's accused of deleting information from his computer and lying to investigators.
"About forty minutes after the bombings, at approximately 3:31 p.m. on Monday, April 15, 2013, Matanov called Tamerlan Tsarnaev and invited him to dinner that night. That night, Matanov bought Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev dinner at a restaurant.
"After Matanov returned home from dinner with the Tsarnaevs following the bombings on Monday, April 15, Matanov spoke with Witness 1 (whose name is known to the Grand Jury). When Witness 1 told Matanov that Witness 1 hoped that the Boston Marathon bombers were not Muslim, Matanov initially responded that the bombings could have had a just reason, such as being done in the name of Islam, that he would support the bombings if the reason were just or the attack had been done by the Taliban, and that the victims were in paradise."
The government gave no reason for the delay in announcing Matanov was a person of interest. He first came into contact with authorities in April 2013.
Matanov is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon, May 30.
