The AP reported Wednesday that the FBI is charging a Washington, D.C.-area transit police officer with attempting to support ISIS.
Nicholas Young of Fairfax, Virginia, is the first U.S. law enforcement officer to be charged with a terror-related crime under federal law. Young was arrested Wednesday morning. He’s also been fired from his job with Metro Transit Police, which prosecutors told the AP “initiated the investigation, and then worked cooperatively with the FBI.”
“Obviously, the allegations in this case are profoundly disturbing. They’re disturbing to me, and they’re disturbing to everyone who wears the uniform,” the AP quoted Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld as saying in a statement.
More from the AP:
According to an affidavit, Young bought nearly $250 in gift cards he intended for the Islamic State to use to purchase mobile apps that would facilitate communication. But Young actually gave the gift cards to an undercover FBI source.
Documents show Young has been under surveillance since 2010, and that he traveled to Libya twice in 2011, where he said he joined rebel forces seeking to oust dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Young posed no threat to the Metro system, Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, told the AP.
Young was known to counterterrorism officials long before his arrest. Court documents show the 36-year-old was an associate of two other persons who were charged with terror-related crimes. According to the AP:
In 2010, law enforcement interviewed Young because of his links to Zachary Chesser, who eventually pleaded guilty to trying to join the militant group al-Shabab and to issuing threats to the makers of the “South Park” cartoon series after they penned an episode he found insulting to Islam.
Young also met regularly with Amine El Khalifi, who pleaded guilty in a sting operation in which he planned to attempt a suicide bombing at the U.S. Capitol in 2012.
In 2014, Young met about 20 times with an FBI informant, and Young gave the source advice on how to avoid detection as he purportedly planned to travel overseas to join the Islamic State. Young frequently advised the source to watch out for informants.
According to the Washington Post’s reporting on the indictment:
Young also talked to an undercover agent about killing FBI agents and bringing guns into the agency headquarters or the Alexandria courthouse, the indictment said. He allegedly told the agent that if he was ever betrayed, that person’s head would be found in a cinder block at the bottom of Lake Braddock. However, the agent doubted Young intended to act on his words, according to the documents.
