FBI Clears Man Who Has Tattoo of Bin Laden

Federal authorities said Wednesday they have ruled out any link between the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a man held in Orange County Jail who has a portrait of Osama bin Laden tattooed on his chest.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies alerted the FBI after discovering the tattoo of the alleged terrorist when Ricardo Cruz Cardenas was brought into the jail eight days after the attacks.

“That raised some concerns. But we checked into him and ruled him out,” said Matt McLaughlin, a spokesman for the FBI’s Los Angeles office.

Cardenas told investigators he was not a political supporter of bin Laden’s, said Assistant Dist. Atty. Elizabeth Henderson. Local officials were unable to confirm his explanation for why or where he got the tattoo.

“He told the police a story about seeing a TV special on [bin Laden] three or four years ago, and thinking it was interesting, he got the tattoo,” Henderson said. “He thought he was an interesting guy.”

Within days of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Cardenas was arrested on suspicion of a minor traffic offense in Alameda County, she said.

Police officers allegedly found credit cards and other identification on Cardenas that indicated he was another man wanted in Orange County for driving on a suspended license.

Cardenas was transported to Orange County Jail, where authorities took a closer look at his identity. Investigators eventually determined his identity using fingerprint records, Henderson said.

Orange County sheriff’s officials said Cardenas had previously failed to appear in court in San Diego on a drunk driving charge. Officials said he was transferred to San Diego County Jail two weeks ago to face that charge again.