3 friends of Boston bombing suspect charged with coverup

Doug Stanglin | USATODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption 3 Charged in Boston Investigation Three college friends of surviving Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev now face charges, including conspiring to destroy evidence and lying to investigators. (May 2)

Friends say they had no prior knowledge of Marathon attacks

Two of the three are accused of obstructing justice

The third is accused of making false statements to investigators

One friend allegedly texted younger Tsarnaev that he looked like suspect in FBI photos

Three friends of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have been charged with conspiring to obstruct justice and lying to investigators after they began to suspect the teenager was involved in the April 15 attack.

One of the friends on April 18 sent a text message to Tsarnaev saying that he looked like one of the bombing suspects shortly after the FBI released surveillance photos of the two suspects. "Lol," Tsarnaev replied, according to court documents.

None of the three friends are suspected of having advance knowledge of the plot or participating in the planning of the bombings, according to a law enforcement source.

Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19 and from Kazakhstan in the U.S. on student visas, are accused of obstruction of justice and conspiring to conceal evidence, including Tsarnaev's backpack and laptop computer. A third, Robel Phillipos, 19, of Cambridge, is charged with making materially false statements to federal law enforcement officials during a terrorism investigation.

The three appeared in a federal court Wednesday afternoon in Boston and are being held without bail. Phillipos faces a May 6 detention and probable cause hearing. Tazhayakov and Kadyrbayev are scheduled for a May 14 detention hearing. If convicted, Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov face up to five years in prison and $250,000 fines. Phillipos could face up to eight years in prison and $250,000 fine.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, has already been charged in connection with the bombings that killed three people and more than 260. He was wounded following a shootout with police and later captured hiding in a trailered boat at a Watertown, Mass., home. Tsarnaev's brother Tamerlan, 26, died in a shootout with police in the early morning hours of April 19.

According to the federal complaint, the backpack that Tazhayakov, Kadyrbayev and Phillipos found in Tsarnaev's University of Massachusetts Dartmouth dorm room contained fireworks from which explosive powder had been emptied. Investigators have said at least one of the bombs was a pressure cooker packed with explosive powder and metal parts.

According to court documents, the evening the FBI released photographs of the Tsarnaevs near the bomb site, the three friends suspected Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was involved in the attack.

Federal agents released the photos of the two at 5 p.m. April 18. Between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., Kadyrbayev, Tazhayakov and Phillipos went to Tsarnaev's dorm room, the affidavit says. Tsarnaev's roommate said Tsarnaev had left a few hours earlier, but let them in to watch a movie.

Around 8:45 p.m., Kadyrbayev texted Tsarnaev and told him he looked like one of the suspects.

Tsarnaev texted back "lol" and "come to my room and take what you want," the affidavit says.

The three men returned to the New Bedford apartment and watched news reports. Kadyrbayev said around 10 p.m., they decided as a group to put a backpack and fireworks in the trash "because they did not want Tsarnaev to get in trouble,'' the affidavit says.

Kadyrbayev and Tazhayakov "admitted that they agreed to get rid of it after concluding from news reports that Tsarnaev was one of the Boston Marathon bombers,'' the documents said.

Kadyrbayev "decided to take Tsarnaev's laptop as well because he did not want Tsarnaev's roommate to think he was stealing or behaving suspiciously by just taking the backpack,'' the documents said.

The backpack was later recovered from a New Bedford landfill, partially enclosed in a black garbage bag. Inside the pack, according to the court documents, federal agents recovered fireworks, a jar of Vaseline and a homework assignment sheet from one of Tsarnaev's classes.

Phillipos initially told investigators that he had not gone to Tsarnaev's dorm room and had instead was sleeping at the New Bedford apartment. On April 26, after several subsequent interviews, "Phillipos eventually confessed that he had lied to the agents,'' the documents state.

Tazhayakov also told FBI agents that Tsarnaev had mentioned a month earlier that he knew how to make a bomb. Moreover, a day before the FBI released photos of the suspects, Kadyrbayev met Tsarnaev outside his dorm room and noticed Tsarnaev had a new, short haircut.

Kadyrbayev first met Tsarnaev in the fall of 2011 at the university and became close the following spring, he told investigators. "They spent a great deal of time socializing, and Kadyrbayev repeatedly visited Tsarnaev's home and met his family members," the affidavit said.

Harlan Protass, attorney for Tazhayakov, said his client "feels horrible and was shocked to hear that someone that he knew at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth was involved in the Boston Marathon bombing … He has cooperated fully with the authorities and looks forward to the truth coming out in this case."

Robert Stahl, attorney for Kadyrbayev, said his client "absolutely denies the charges.''

"He assisted the FBI in this investigation,'' Stahl said.

The two have been held in a county jail for more than a week on allegations that they violated their student visas.

Contributing: G. Jeffrey MacDonald in Boston, William M. Welch in Los Angeles, Associated Press