FBI: Transit officer is 1st lawman to be charged under US terror law

Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, VA.

Prosecutors brought the first federal terrorism charges against a law-enforcement officer in the U.S., alleging Wednesday that a patrol officer with the D.C. region’s transit police bought about $250 worth of gift cards for someone he thought was working with the Islamic State group.

Nicholas Young, 36, of Fairfax, was arrested Wednesday at Metro Transit Police headquarters in Washington and charged with a single count of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist group. According to an FBI affidavit, Young bought the gift cards last month that he intended for the Islamic State to use to purchase mobile messaging apps. Young actually gave the codes for the gift cards to an undercover FBI officer, the affidavit said.

He made a brief court appearance Wednesday. He asked for an attorney and a magistrate appointed him a public defender. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

Young had been under surveillance since 2010, and he said he traveled to Libya twice in 2011, where he joined rebel forces seeking to oust dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the affidavit said. On one trip, he traveled with body armor, a Kevlar helmet and other military-style items.

Young was deeply paranoid about law enforcement spying on him, often taking out the battery of his cellphone when he wanted to go somewhere and talk, the document said.

On Jan. 24, 2011, an undercover officer said Young told the officer he once aimed an AK-47-style rifle out of a window at his residence, scanning for law enforcement he believed was watching him. On another occasion, he grew angry that the FBI talked to his family and co-workers and said he wanted to find the FBI agent and kidnap and torture her. The undercover officer said he “doubted that Young seriously intended to act upon those words,” according to the affidavit.

As police searched Young’s townhouse in Fairfax, neighbor Dina Ahmad described him as standoffish and said he had occasional run-ins with the homeowners’ association over his cluttered front lawn.

He often worked on his car at late hours, and the car was adorned with anti-Israel bumper stickers, she said.

“We knew something was weird about him,” Ahmad said. “You just kind of got that creepy vibe off of him.”

Joshua Stueve, spokesman for the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said Young posed no threat to the Metro system, and nowhere in the affidavit does it mention the subway and bus system for the nation’s capital.

Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said Young, who had been employed since 2003, was fired.

FBI spokesman Andrew Ames confirmed that Young is the first law-enforcement officer to be charged under the federal government’s terrorism law.

In 2014, Young met about 20 times with an FBI informant, and Young gave the source advice on how to avoid detection as the source purportedly planned to travel overseas to join the Islamic State. Young frequently advised the source to watch out for informants.