MIAMI -- Abdullah Al Muhajir, 32, is accused of plotting with al-Qaida terrorists to set off a radioactive "dirty bomb." Muhajir, born Jose Padilla, lived in South Florida from 1990 to 1997.

Records show Muhajir having several South Florida addresses for much of the '90s, from Sunrise to Lauderhill to Davie.

His trouble with the law began when he was a Chicago street gang member in the mid-'80s, but continued while he lived here, according to police.

Court records show Muhajir was convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm in Sunrise in 1992. He was also arrested for numerous traffic violations and battery on a police officer, according to court documents.

Muhajir converted to Islam while serving in a South Florida jail, officials said Monday.

While in the Broward County Jail, he was accused of battery on a jail officer and resisting without violence in January 1992.

Muhajir plea-bargained all of the charges down to 10 months behind bars, and he was placed on probation for a year.

According to Sterling Ivey, a state Corrections Department spokesman, Muhajir was on probation for a year ending in August 1993. During that time, state records show he completed a substance abuse program.

Muhajir's former wife Cherie Stultz, still lives in a condominium in Greenacres in Palm Beach, but she is not talking to the media.

Muhajir's mother, Stella Ortega Lebron, lives in Plantation. Officials say that she was taken to New York to testify before a grand jury a couple weeks ago. She is also not speaking to the media, and has asked Plantation police to keep the media away from her.