1st Law Enforcement Officer Charged In Terror Sting

A Washington, D.C., transit police officer was arrested Wednesday on a charge of trying to support the Islamic State terrorist group by buying gift cards, becoming the first USA cop to face such charges.

Nicholas Young, 36, a DC Metro police officer was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly attempting to support ISIS efforts overseas.

Metro has fired Young, who is slated to appear in court at 2 p.m. today. He was flanked by federal marshals, handcuffed and shackled. Buchanan determined that a status hearing will be held Thursday and a detention hearing will be held Friday.

David Smith, who was appointed to represent Young after the hearing, said he could not comment because he had not yet been able to research the details of the case.

The police officer told the informant how to evade law enforcement detection while traveling, and advised the informant not to discuss his plans with others, the authorities said.

Nicholas never posed a credible or specific threat to the Metro system, the Washington Post newspaper quoted the authorities as saying.

Young is a convert to Islam and a 12-year veteran of the D.C. Metro Transit police (and was sacked after his arrest). By they say he was acquainted with two Washington area residents who have subsequently been convicted in terrorism cases. “They’re disturbing to me, and they’re disturbing to everyone who wears the uniform”.

Prosecutors said it was Metro Transit Police that initiated the investigation, and then worked cooperatively with the FBI. In that year, an acquaintance of Young named Zachary Chesser pled guilty to providing material support to terror groups.

Last week, Young finally crossed a line when he tried to send $245 worth of gift-card codes to ISIS to assist in recruiting. The gift cards were intended for mobile-messaging accounts that Islamic State uses to recruit its followers. When asked by the person working with law enforcement to send money overseas a year ago, Young allegedly said, “Unfortunately I have enough flags on my name that I can’t even buy a plane ticket without little alerts ending up in someone’s hands”. In addition, he said, court documents show that Young embraced radical ideology for six years or more; the typical radicalization occurs more quickly.

According to court records, Young provided advice on how to join ISIS to the man, whom Young believed was a military reservist of Middle Eastern descent.

“Over the next several years, Young allegedly had numerous interactions with undercover law enforcement personnel and an Federal Bureau of Investigation confidential human source (CHS) regarding his knowledge of and interest in terrorism-related activity”.

Young had been under surveillance since 2010.

According to the affidavit, Young has been employed as an MTPD officer since 2003. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Young had claimed he joined forces seeking to oust Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi during those visits.