Criminal - Defendant sent gifts to agent he believed was in ISIS.

Byline: North Caroline Weekly Staff, BridgeTower Media Newswires

A defendant who sent gift cards to an undercover agent he believed was a member of ISIS was guilty of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization where his collection of Nazi paraphernalia suggested a predisposition to commit the offense.

Background

In 2010, the FBI opened a counterterrorism investigation into appellant Nicholas Young, based, in part, on his connection to an acquaintance who had been arrested for providing material support to terrorists. "Khalil," an undercover FBI agent, began maintaining contact with Young. They discussed Young's wariness of FBI surveillance and the measures he had taken to thwart such surveillance. During this time, Young was observed traveling to and from Libya. Khalil's contact with Young concluded in April 2012.

The investigation intensified in May 2014, when "Mo," an FBI informant who was monitoring Young's acquaintances, was introduced to Young. Young and Mo met approximately 20 times over the next several months, during which time Mo indicated that he was interested in traveling to Syria to join ISIS. Young advised Mo to buy a roundtrip ticket and pretend to take a guided tour of Turkey to avoid arousing suspicion. Young also offered to send Mo a message after his return date to make it look like his return was expected. They set up covert email accounts to communicate.

In October 2014, Mo traveled to Turkey and emailed Young about his plans to travel to ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. In November 2014, Young sent Mo the pre-arranged message. Mo forwarded the message to FBI Agent Minichello. Minichello and another agent began impersonating Mo and communicating with Young through Mo's email account.

In December 2015, two FBI agents questioned Young about Mo's whereabouts. Young then emailed Mo about the FBI inquiry and, at Mo's suggestion, the two began communicating through Therma, an encrypted messaging application. Mo told Young that Google gift cards could be used to purchase Therma accounts to help fighters communicate with ISIS and facilitate their travel to ISIS-controlled territory. Young transmitted $245 in Google gift cards to Mo and, after confirming receipt, told Mo that he would be disposing of the device he was using to communicate with him.

In August 2016, FBI agents executed a search warrant and seized militant Islamist, Nazi and white supremacist paraphernalia, as well as weapons...