A federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, has convicted a former D.C. Metro Transit Police Department officer affiliated with Nazi ideology of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), announced the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
“Nicholas Young swore an oath to protect and defend, and instead violated the public’s trust by attempting to support ISIS,” declared Dana J. Boente, Assistant Attorney General for DOJ’s National Security Division and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in a press release announcing the verdict.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg, the prosecutor in the case, has argued that the defendant “was attracted to Nazis and Islamic terrorists at the same time. Both hate Jews,” reports the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT).
According to the DOJ, 38-year-old Young, identified by news outlets as a Muslim convert, is facing up to 60 years in prison when he gets sentenced on February 23.
The case reportedly marks the first time the FBI charged a U.S.-based law enforcement officer of attempting to assist ISIS.
In the press release announcing the jury’s decision on Monday, DOJ reveals:
According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Nicholas Young, 38, of Fairfax, [Virginia] was formerly employed as a police officer with the Metro Transit Police Department. In late July 2016, Young attempted to provide material support and resources to ISIS by purchasing and sending gift card codes that he believed would allow ISIS recruiters to securely communicate with potential ISIS recruits.
Between Dec. 3, 2015, and Dec. 5, 2015, Young attempted to obstruct and impede an official proceeding. In specific, Young believed an associate of his, who was actually an FBI confidential human source (CHS), had successfully joined ISIS in late 2014. During an FBI interview, Young was told the FBI was investigating the attempt of his associate (the CHS) to join ISIS. Nevertheless, in an attempt to thwart the prosecution of the CHS and himself, Young attempted to deceive investigators as to the destination and purpose of the CHS’s travel.
In November 2014, Young also reportedly tried to obstruct, influence, and impede, an official Grand Jury proceeding by sending misleading text messages to the FBI.
The FBI arrested Young in early August 2016 at the Metropolitan Police Headquarters in the nation’s capital, revealed the Washington Post.
Despite being monitored by the FBI since 2010 and traveling to Libya to join the country’s civil war in 2011, the former officer had reportedly been working for the D.C. Metro police since 2003.
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