The 23-year-old cab driver who allegedly spent time with the Tsarnaev brothers just hours after last year’s Boston Marathon bombing pleaded not guilty to the charges against him on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.
Matanov pleads not guilty to destroying, altering and falsifying documents & making false statements in a federal terrorism investigation.
— U.S. Attorney MA (@DMAnews1) June 4, 2014
Prosecutors unsealed their case against Khairullozhon Matanov late last month, charging him with one count of destroying, altering, and falsifying records, documents, and tangible objects in a federal investigation — for allegedly trying to get rid of information on his computer — and three counts of making materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements in a federal terrorism investigation.
According to prosecutors, Matanov was friends with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died following a shootout with police last year. Matanov allegedly bought dinner for both Tamerlan and his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, just hours after the bombing on April 15, 2013.
