A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted the first U.S. law enforcement officer to face federal terrorism charges, after prosecutors said he bought nearly $250 worth of gift cards for someone he thought was working with the Islamic State.
(FOX)- Nicholas Young, a 37-year-old former patrol officer with the D.C. region’s transit police, was charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and obstruction of justice.
According to an FBI affidavit, the officer from Virginia bought the gift cards that he intended for ISIS to use to buy mobile messaging apps in July. Young actually gave the codes for the gift cards to an undercover FBI agent, the affidavit said.
Young also sent a text to the undercover officer’s phone in 2014 making it appear to the FBI that the officer had left the U.S. to go on vacation in Turkey, even though Young thought the officer had left to join the terrorist group, according to the feds.
If convicted, Young could face up to 60 years in prison. He had worked for the police department for 13 years before he was fired in August.
Young, meanwhile, sued Alexandria, Va., Sheriff Dana Lawhorne in September, asserting that his mental health was suffering in jail and he “could see himself dying soon,” WRC reported.