A member of an Islamic terrorist group hatched in a California prison was sentenced to 12 years in prison Monday for planning to attack military facilities in the Los Angeles area.

24-year-old Gregory Patterson, of Gardena, pleaded guilty in December to conspiring in a cruel terrorist plot against U.S. military and Jewish targets. He also admitted to possessing a weapon with the intention of committing an aggressive crime.

He received his sentence on Monday in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana. There, he apologized mainly to Muslim and Jewish people and to the government and his family members for “foolishness, misguidance or cowardly actions.” "I'm thoroughly embarrassed and appalled for my actions, for my offenses, for my crimes,” stated the man in the courtroom.

Prosecutors said that in 2004 Patterson engaged in a jihadist group and stole from several gas stations to finance the group's attacks. At that time, Gregory Patterson and Levar Washington, aged 30, were taken into custody by the Torrance Police Department with regard to the series of gas station thefts in the South Bay and Orange County over two months starting May 30, 2005.

Another member of a domestic terrorist cell, Levar Haney Washington, 30, pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy and weapons charges. The man was sentenced to 22 years in prison. He was part of Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam Is-Saheeh, or JIS, a group organized 9 years ago by Kevin James.