NORTH PORT -- As authorities continue to dig through
the rubble in Tuesday's terrorist attacks, agents were digging
through North Port to find one of the many missing pieces to the
puzzle of who declared war on the United States and why.
Thursday began like a normal day for North Port
residents Tony and Vonnie LaConca, but they would later learn a man
who rented their Agress Avenue home is someone whom authorities
think may be connected with Tuesday's attacks.
An FDLE agent working in conjunction with the FBI
arrived at the LaConca home around 10:30 a.m. Thursday and
questioned the couple for two hours concerning a man they knew only
as "Mohamed."
The couple told the agent the man was about 25, 5
feet 10 inches, 160 pounds, had "dark, perfect" skin, and was clean
cut and "very polite."
"He was a very handsome guy," Vonnie LaConca said in
an interview. "He had beautiful, unblemished skin."
Mohamed was associated with a local woman believed
to be Amanda Keller, a local restaurant manager, LaConca said. The
FBI is looking for Keller for additional questioning, but she might
be missing.
LaConca told the agent that Keller had "dishwater
blonde hair, was about 21 years old, big boned with freckles" and
seemed to be enamored of Mohamed.
In an effort to locate Keller, the agent accompanied
Tony LaConca to the North Port Police Department to pick up a Feb.
25 police report in which Keller had called police about harassing
cell phone calls.
According to the police report, after Keller called
police about the calls, a computer check was conducted and showed an
outstanding warrant from Marion County on a worthless check charge.
"Mohamed bailed her out of South County Jail,"
Vonnie LaConca said. "We told agents this because we thought they
(FBI) might be able to get his last name from the reports."
Keller, who allegedly met Mohamed while working at
Papa John's Pizza in Venice, told the couple she would translate
because Mohamed spoke limited English. She said he was
French/Canadian. She told the LaConcas that he was not a U.S.
citizen.
A Papa John's employee confirmed that Keller was a
manager there, but has not been to work for some time.
While talking to Keller and Mohamed, the
couple learned he had a pilot's license to charter small planes of
four to six people and was going to school at Huffman Aviation in
Venice to train for a commercial pilot's license. Huffman was the
school that enrolled Mohamed Atta and Marwan Alshehhi, both
identified as suspects in the hijacked jet assaults on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"We almost asked him if he wanted to fly our plane,"
Tony LaConca said. "He was a very polite guy."
Keller said she would be responsible for the rental,
but the man gave the couple two checks amounting to $75 each.
While he was writing the checks, the couple noticed
Mohamed had brand new clothing, all still with tags on them from a
local mall, the couple remembered.
The only request Mohamed made to the couple was that
they provide him a desk in which he could do his aviation homework.
"He didn't even care if the house had a bed, all he
wanted was a desk," said Tony LaConca in a thick New York accent.
The couple learned more about Mohamed from a
then-employee of Vonnie's cleaning company. After meeting Mohamed
and Keller on Feb. 21, the former employee joined the couple on an
adventure to Key West the following day.
"They were gone for three days," said Tony LaConca.
"They didn't sleep -- it was a continuous party."
LaConca said Mohamed footed the entire bill for the
weekend including buying Keller and the unnamed employee new
clothes, alcohol, drugs and hotel stay. However, the couple said,
Mohamed did not have a job.
"The two girls were introduced to two men from
Germany that they said were Mohamed's friends," Tony LaConca
continued. "I thought it was strange, because Mohamed didn't appear
to be French-Canadian or German."
The couple said the agent tried to locate and
interview the unnamed employee, however they said she was
"uncooperative to the agent." However, Vonnie learned the former
employee made telephone contact with Mohamed last week.
At the end of his week-long stay at Agress Avenue,
Mohamed returned to the LaConcas' home to pick up his $75 security
check. This time, the couple noticed he spoke "good English." He
arrived in a rental car with a friend that he claimed he had just
picked up from the airport. Mohamed requested that the check be made
out to his unidentified friend.
"His friend didn't speak any English, and his name
was very strange," said Vonnie LaConca. "The two stayed at our house
for at least an hour. Mohamed seemed real interested in the
architecture and decor of our home. He asked all kinds of questions
about it. I thought they would never leave."
The couple said the FDLE agent showed them four
photographs of possible suspects in the terrorist attack.
"The first photo they showed us was the pilot who
crashed into the first building," Vonnie LaConca said. "It was not
Mohamed or his friend. But the last picture they showed us was very
close, but I could not say 100 percent that it was him."
The FBI in Tampa would neither confirm nor deny any
agents interviewing people in the North Port area.
"We recommend that you check in with CNN for current
information," an FBI spokesperson only identified as "Pam" said
Thursday afternoon. "Any press statements can be found on televised
stations like CNN."