The attack injured a clinic staff member and 2 patients, including a pregnant woman
A Massachusetts man pleaded not guilty Friday morning to terrorism charges after prosecutors say he deliberately crashed a stolen truck into a Planned Parenthood clinic in East Orange earlier this year.
Marckles Alcius, 32, of Lowell, Massachusetts, is one of a few defendants in New Jersey to be charged with terrorism. The first-degree offense carries a sentence of 30 years to life in prison and has to be approved by the state Attorney General’s Office.
Alcius, prosecutors say, stole a bakery delivery truck on Feb. 14 and drove it into an East Orange Planned Parenthood “with the purpose to promote an act of terror.”
The incident injured a clinic staff member and two patients, including a pregnant woman. The crash also caused “extensive” damage to the building, officials said.
Alcius was not injured.
A grand jury returned a 14-count indictment against Alcius on July 6, which included multiple charges of aggravated assault and weapons offenses. On Friday, his attorney, William Fitzsimmons, entered in a plea of not guilty on Alcius’ behalf before Superior Court Judge Nancy Sivilli.
Fitzsimmons declined to comment following the brief hearing.
Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Adam Wells said at a previous hearing in February that Alcius, a Haitian national who is not a U.S. citizen but is believed to be in the country legally, began researching the locations of Planned Parenthood clinics more than a year before the East Orange incident.
The indictment alleges Alcius tried to cause widespread injury or damage by purposely trying to cause the collapse of the building.
He indicated to investigators after his arrest that the act was intentional and that he was willing to die, Wells said.
Alcius was living with family members, including some in the Newark area, at the time of the attack. He gave authorities an address in Lowell, Massachusetts, that was for an abandoned building.
Alcius, who is being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, is scheduled to be back in court on Sept. 24 of this year.
In June, the attorney general approved terrorism charges for a 19-year-old Cream Ridge man who is accused of attempting to obtain a gun with the intention of conducting a shooting at his high school graduation.
The first defendant to be convicted on terrorism charges was the man responsible for killing Livingston native Brendan Tevlin, Ali Muhammad Brown. Brown, 34, was sentenced in May to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.