Throughout this, Young continued with his work as a law enforcement officer for the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD).
Advertisement
In this photo taken November 16, 2015, passengers ride a Washington Metro subway train at the Chinatown Metro Station in Washington.
A former police officer for the D.C. region’s transit system will be back in court for a second straight day on charges that he tried to help the Islamic State group.
According to United States media, 36-year-old Young entered service in 2003 and was on security officials’ radar since 2010.
A Washington Metro transit police officer was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly trying to provide “material support” to the Islamic State.
Court papers say that last month, Mr.
David Smith, who was appointed to represent Young after the hearing, said he could not comment because he had not yet been able to research the details of the case.
He faces 20 years in prison
if convicted.
Also in 2011, Young travelled twice to Libya, where he met with rebels trying to topple the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.
The criminal complaint states that during one of the trips, young was carrying body armor, a Kevlar helmet, and “several other military-style items”.
Officials say Young had several interactions with undercover law enforcement officers which were recorded.
Young believed the other man went to Syria, and kept in touch with him electronically, but in fact, he was communicating with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents posing as his friend, according to the affidavit. Ahmad said Young’s vehicle was decorated with several anti-Israel stickers. Some neighbors said they did not know Young but often spotted him working on his truck.
Young did not pose a threat to Metro riders or employees during the six years he was under federal surveillance, said Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the Eastern Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Young was sacked from his job on Wednesday after working for Metro police since 2003.
Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld told WTOP that he was horrified by the allegations.
The Justice Department has brought Islamic State-related charges against more than 90 people since 2014. In June 2015, Young contacted the informant asking for advice on how to send money overseas.
He sent the gift card codes to the person he believed to be in Syria in late July. Law enforcement authorities first interviewed Young in connection with an acquaintance, Zachary Chesser, who later pleaded guilty to providing material support to the foreign terrorist group al-Shabaab. Alongside undercover officers, he also met with Amine El Khalifi, who in 2012 was sentenced to 30 years in prison over a plot to carry out a suicide bomb attack in Washington, D.C.
Advertisement
Allegedly, he threatened to kidnap and torture an agent who interviewed him and to leave the head of anyone who betrayed him in a cinder block at the bottom of Virginia’s Lake Braddock. Young was speaking to an undercover officer.
