The family recovered monetary awards from all three defendants, and only 10 days after the money was deposited into Roble’s account on the occasion of his 18th birthday, the suspect allegedly began using the funds to finance his travel.
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Roble is accused of traveling to Syria and joining the terror group after he turned 18.
A Minnesota man who survived a 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis that killed over a dozen people has been charged with conspiring to support ISIS, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Roble, now 20, was almost 11 when the school bus he was riding plummeted about 30 feet as the bridge collapsed. Authorities believe he lives in Syria. Thirteen people were killed and 145 people were injured, including Roble.
According to the charges, Roble and his mother flew from Minneapolis to Beijing, China, on October 3, 2014. That money included a $65,431 payment from the state’s settlement fund. He took two trips to Istanbul during his time aboard: A day-long excursion in November, and a second visit in December. And federal prosecutors said Roble, who has since surfaced in photographs from the conflict zone in Syria, has never returned.
“We received information that Mr. Roble ended up in Syria with his uncle, Abdi Nur”, FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force Officer Joel Pajak testified.
Prosecutors say Roble made six cash withdrawals of about $1,000 each from an ATM in Wuhan.
“This large sum is consistent with previously mentioned CHS (a confidential informant working for the U.S. government) reports that Roble was financially supporting himself and other members of Isil (another name for IS), including by purchasing vehicles to be used by members of Isil”, the affidavit said. The “CHS” was a confidential informant working for the government. The charges against Roble are part of an FBI investigation into IS recruitment in the Minneapolis area, which has thus far resulted in the conviction of nine men on charges of helping IS.
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He is part of a Minnesota-based group that worked to help ISIS, and his charges bring the number of men accused of conspiring to join the terror organization to 11.
