A police officer with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was arrested Wednesday on accusations he tried to help ISIS, a first for a law-enforcement official in the USA, reports say.
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This is the first case of a USA police officer charged with aiding ISIL.
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.
Law enforcement officers are seen outside the home of Nicholas Young, a Washington Metro Transit Officer, Aug. 3, 2016, in Fairfax, Virginia/Credit: VOA News.
Officials say Young did not pose any threat to the Metro system. Young’s initial appearance is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa C. Buchanan of the Eastern District of Virginia. The FBI began monitoring him in September 2010, after interviewing him about an acquaintance of his, Zachary Chesser, who had been arrested and later pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation. A great deal of these interactions were recorded. His family and coworkers were also interviewed by law enforcement. The arrest marks the first time a US law enforcement officer has been accused of trying to aid a terrorist group.
According to Heavy.com, Young has dressed as a Nazi and “Jihad John”, for Halloween, collects Nazi memorabilia, has a tattoo of a German eagle on his neck, and praised the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in France. Young has been under investigation and monitored by the FBI since 2010.
In 2014, he allegedly met with an Federal Bureau of Investigation source and gave him tips on how evade law enforcement using specific travel plans and told him not to tell his plans to others.
Young also met with an informant in 2014 who was able to successfully convince that he was going to be traveling to Syria to formally join ISIS.
In an e-mail Young sent in 2015 to the informant, whom he thought had contacts with the IS, he asked how he could send money to IS leaders. A Metro police officer told authorities that during an off-duty weapons training event last March, Young brought an Egyptian AK-47, a Kimber 1911.45 caliber pistol and an AK-47 AMD rifle.
Young allegedly said that the CHS had left the United States to go on a vacation tour in Turkey approximately one year ago. Young was secretly planning to help terrorists.
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Young allegedly used mobile messaging accounts to send $245 in gift cards codes to a person he believed was a member of the terrorist organization, but who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. He told associates that he had several “burner phones”, according to a court affidavit, and regularly took the battery out of his cellphone to avoid detection.
