BACKGROUND CHECK

Awlaki Arrested With Prostitutes in ‘90s

While living in San Diego.

Is this the news anyone expected to hear? American-born radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed early Friday in a drone strike in Yemen, was arrested twice in the 1990s for patronizing prostitutes. Awlaki, who has been said to either have been the main influence or mastermind of a half-dozen terrorist plots against the U.S. and its allies, has called his years in San Diego “uneventful.” He was a graduate student at San Diego State, and he preached at a mosque in La Mesa, where he reportedly met two students who became Sept. 11 hijackers. But he also was arrested twice and convicted for soliciting prostitutes. In August 1996, Awlaki paid a $400 fine and was ordered to attend an AIDS awareness seminar and in April 1997, he paid a $240 fine and was sentenced to community service.