A man with ties to Schenectady has been arraigned on charges of plotting to detonate bombs in New York City. And now, people in the neighborhood and his own mother are speaking out about Jose Pimentel. Steve Ference has the story.

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SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- “I could have probably walked past him 99 times and didn't even realize until I saw him on TV,” Schenectady resident Samuel Green said.

For those in this Schenectady neighborhood, news that Jose Pimentel, 27, had been arrested on numerous terrorism-related charges came as a shock, with authorities announcing he had lived here on Willett Street just a couple years ago.

“Makes me very scared, very alert,” Green said.

“I can't believe that. Especially in this area. You wouldn't see people that would go around and be caught up in this situation,” Schenectady resident Marvin Chapman said.

Pimentel was arraigned in New York City on the charges, accused of planning to use pipe bombs, like in this police simulation, to attack troops returning home and post offices, among other targets.

"The follower, then residing in Schenectady, New York, was talking about travel to Yemen for training before returning to New York to become a martyr in the name of jihad. That was Jose Pimentel," New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

“When he was young, he liked to listen to salsa, all the time salsa from the Dominican Republic,” said Carmen Sosa, Pimentel’s mother.

His mother, remembering her son's past, while apologizing to the people of New York for what her son may have been planning for the future.

Sosa said, “I would like to apologize about this. I didn't raise my son in this way. So I feel very bad about this situation.”

And while officials say Pimentel began to gravitate toward some of the ideas of Al-Qaida while living here, neighbors in this working class neighborhood say they simply can't believe that that is possible.

Chapman said, “The people that I see here are calm, collected. They work, they take care of their families. This is amazing. I can't believe this. That is out of control.”

Still, Pimentel had been known to local police as the Secret Service and Schenectady Police Department worked together to charge him back in 2005 with criminal possession of stolen property and identity theft, both felonies he later pled guilty to. He was sentenced to five years probation before moving to New York City.