>>> tonight, the boston marathon bombing case has three more defendants. pete williams of nbc news will join me with the latest on the investigation.
>>> three additional suspects have been taken into custody.
>> the fbi took into custody three additional people.
>> they were roommates.
>> two of the people are here on student visas.
>> ages 19 and 20.
>> suspected of removing evidence after the bombing.
>> what they are accused of doing is taking things.
>> at least two of them expected to be in court.
>> they are accused in obstruction of justice and making false statement.
>> destroying, concealing and covering up a laptop computer .
>> a missing laptop.
>> they take a backpack filled with fireworks and throw it in the trash.
>> that's what the charges are about.
>> i think he's there.
>> this morning we are learning about the events in boston that led the police to is suspects.
>> my body was shaking. i was worried it would come back to me.
>> he said he will testify in open court .
>> there's a lot we need to learn here.
>> it is a fluid situation.
>> this is the beginning of a long process.
>>> tonight, three more people now face federal criminal charges in the boston marathon bombing according to a complaint. die as cad ra b -- two it by knowingly destroying, concealing and covering up objects belonging to dzhokhar tsarnaev, mainly a backpack with a computer. impede and obstruct. a third man, robel feliphillipos. all three men are friends of bombing suspect dzhokhar tsarnaev and began attending the university in dart mouth. don't worry about my pronunciation. they are nationals of -- they were taken on student visa violations for not regularly attending classes. they shared an apartment in new bedford, massachusetts. they went to dzhokhar tsarnaev's apartment and removed a backpack with fireworks and a jar of vaseline. they watched news report that is featured photographs of a man later identified as dzhokhar tsarnaev and identified the guys as a suspect. they then collectively decided to throw the fireworks into the trash because they did not want tsarnaev to get in trouble. all three had their hearing in court today.
>> he did not know that this individual was involved in the bombing. his first inkling came much later. the government allegations as far as seeing a photo and recognizing him. immediately we dispute. he did not know the items were involved in a bombing or of any value.
>> my client feels horrible and was shocked to hear that someone he knew at the university of massachusetts was involved with the boston marathon bombing, just like many other individuals interviewed on campus. he's cooperated fully with the authorities and looks forward to the truth coming out in this case.
>> my client is not charged with helping the suspect in any way what so ever before or after and he had no knowledge of the incident and as to the actual charge, misrepresentation of the other two individuals did or did not do. we'll look forward to litigating that in court.
>> joining me now is nbc news justice corporate pete williams and james cavanagh , an msnbc analyst. pete , thank you for being here on the first night of pronouncing the new names. i'm going to need your help. pete , i want to go to the lawyers, first of all, representing the new defendants. are they court appointed lawyers? what do we know about how they got their lawyers?
>> no, they are private counsel. some representing the two on immigration, which has arisen a couple days ago when they were picked up. there was a question about their student visas. the fact is the fbi has been trying to figure out what happened here for several days now. as i understand, the sequence of events here. after tsarnaev is arrested on friday night and after the shootout in waterford, they get his cell phone and look back for the record of his cell phones and texts. he's texts several of these individuals. two, they talked to dzhokhar tsarnaev's actual roommate who tells them the story about these men coming in and taking something out. so that got them on to the trail. they have been questioning the men and trying to figure this out. they, you know, discovered the backpack was thrown away. they find it in the landfill five days ago. the actual backpack. the picture you showed with the fireworks in it came from the fbi from the backpack they have thrown away. the counselors are not court appointed. they are regular, private counsel.
>> one person in the clear as of tonight in the investigation was dzhokhar's actual roommate.
>> yes. there's no suggestion here he had anything to do with this. we should say at some point there's no allegation here by the fbi . these three men charged today had anything to do with the bombing itself or were involved in planning or executing it this entire charge has to do with what they did afterwards. what they did after the fbi released the pictures of the two bombing suspects on a thursday night. it's later that evening they go to dzhokhar tsarnaev's dorm room , take the backpack away. the fbi was suspicious he was involved. one texted him and said he look like one of the suspects. he responded lol come to my room and take anything you want. they go to the room and take the backpack out. the next morning, as they are watching the news accounts and the names come out about tamerlan and dzhokhar tsarnaev, they decide to throw the backpack away.
>> on this point of the texting, the fbi is not alleging, it sounds like, that this was a coordinated thing that dzhokhar was saying to them, go to this, i need you to throw that stuff away.
>> correct. according to the court documents, he never says i need you to go to my dorm room , get the backpack and take it away. there's an implied invitation, come to my room and take anything umt. it also says they consider it a joke. then they go to the room and find the backpack. that's when, according to the fbi , says one of them knew, at that point, is the term the fbi uses, knew that tsarnaev was involved in the bombing. you heard the lawyer for one of the defendants who says no. he says no, they did not think they were taking evidence directly related to the bombing out of the dorm room . why they were taking it out, he doesn't say.
>> james cavanagh , you have worked investigations like this. you came across this package of evidence, the texts and then the knowledge that these people went to the dorm room , what they did, the roommate tells you this is what they did with that stuff. they got rid of it. what do you make of this evidence as it's gathered now in this case?
>> well, they made a clear choice, lawrence . remember, you have to add in the other facts and complaints. dzhokhar told at least one of the brothers a month before he knew how to make bombs. they saw the photographs, got the texts from dzhokhar, take anything out of my room. you look like the bomber, lol. they decided they knew that dzhokhar was one of the bombers. they made an active criminal choice to obstruct justice, go in there and get the backpack as pete described, the fireworks. the evidence in there, vaseline and other materials and his laptop, which would be significant evidence to stop another attack. these guys had left with other bombs. taking a laptop is serious. agents would want to get in there and see if there's another attack. they obstructed justice. it's serious.
>> james, when you say, based on what we know about the case and what you know about the frame of the case, what they did in that dorm room was actually remove the most valuable possible material in there for investigators.
>> exactly. the laptop, lawrence , mike reported he talked to one of the counsels for the defendant. they told mike they turned the laptop over to the fbi . you know, that solves the question, the laptop wasn't in the backpack, but turned over to the fbi . they have already swept it, i'm sure.
>> one other thing, the fbi claims in the charging documents that the reason they took the laptop was, and i'm just going to tell you what it says. you can decide the logic on your own. according to the complaint, they didn't want to roommate suspicious they were only taking the backpack, so they took the laptop, too. that's their claim.
>> what type of penalties do they face in these charges?
>> this is not the end of the game. the government can come back with more charges. this is the opening move by the government. as they learn more, they can add more. the obstruction count is a maximum of five years. lying to federal agent count against phillipos carry as maximum eight year sentence. there may be more charges down the road.
>> thank you both for your guidance tonight.
>> you bet.
>> thanks, lawrence .
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