Young sent codes for mobile messaging cards to an undercover federal agent in the belief that they would be used by Islamic State fighters overseas to communicate, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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In this photo taken November 16, 2015, passengers ride a Washington Metro subway train at the Chinatown Metro Station in Washington.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority CEO Paul Wiedefeld sent a note to colleagues to notify them about the case on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Young was found to have been helping with ISIS recruit efforts through the use of gift card codes the organization uses for its mobile messaging accounts.
Young later told undercover officers he anxious he was under surveillance, according to the affidavit.
The US Department of Justice said in a statement that Officer Nicholas Young, 36, of Fairfax, Virginia, was arrested at the Metro police headquarters, thus becoming the first US law enforcement officer to be accused of trying to help the jihadist group.
That conversation occurred last June, when law enforcement came to Young’s house in response to an allegation of domestic violence, according to the indictment.
Nicholas Young is alleged to have last month sent codes for gift cards worth $245 to an Federal Bureau of Investigation informant he believed was acquainted with the militant group. His initial court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Alexandria, Va.
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.
If convicted, Young looks to face the statutory maximum sentence of 20 years.
In addition, Young traveled to Libya in 2011 and tried to go a second time, saying that he was working with rebels to overthrow Moammar Gaddafi, according to the court documents. He traveled with body armor, a Kevlar helmet and other military-style items.
Dina Ahmad has lived in Young’s neighborhood for 13 years.
He often worked on his vehicle at late hours, and the auto was adorned with anti-Israel bumper stickers, she said.
“We knew something was weird about him”, Ahmad tells CBS News.
The rise of the Islamic State “seems to have pushed him from just radical to mobilised to action”, he said.
Young served as a Metro police officer for 13 years before he was sacked on Wednesday and Ron Pavlik, the Metro Transit Police Chief, says that the firing was the culmination of an investigation that began due to concerns about Young within the department. An undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation officer- using the informant’s email address – picked up communications with Young from there.
Nicholas Young, 36, is the first US police officer to face a terror-related charge. The informant had been posing as a friend of Young’s for several years.
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Young was discovered to be sending money to people he believed to be associated with ISIS. Young allegedly advised the informant on how to evade law enforcement detection and advised him to watch out for informants and keep his plans to himself.
