The justice department said in a statement that Lutchman was "claiming to receive direction from an overseas ISIL member, and planned to commit an armed attack against civilians at a restaurant/bar located in the Rochester, New York, area today."
A criminal complaint against Lutchman, who appeared in US District Court for the Western District of New York on Thursday, described him as a "self-professed Muslim convert with a criminal history dating back to approximately 2006.... as well as previous state mental hygiene arrests."
It said Lutchman expressed support for Islamic State in telephone conversations with a paid informant in November and December. It said that this month he was in contact with someone who identified himself as a member of the militant group in Syria.
On Tuesday, he went to a Walmart store in Rochester with another informant and bought two black ski masks, zip-ties, two knives, a machete, duct tape, ammonia and latex gloves for the planned attack, the complaint said.In the run-up to the New Years festivities, about 6,000 police officers will guard revelers on New Year's Eve at one of the city's highest-profile events, the Times Square countdown.An estimated one million people are expected in the vicinity of the square on Thursday for the New Year's Eve dropping of the ball, a tradition begun in 1907 and broken only during wartime blackouts.In the aftermath of Islamist-inspired attacks in San Bernardino, California, and Paris, the city will draw on its new Critical Response Command counterterrorism unit, which includes more heavily armed officers, to patrol Times Square. The unit, trained to detect and respond to attack plots, was commissioned days before the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.Officers communicating with smart phones and loud speakers will be empowered to shut down the event at any time and evacuate the area, Police Commissioner William Bratton said, adding that there were no known credible threats against New York City.In November after attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead, the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS, released a video that showed a glimpse of Times Square and then a suicide bomber.