A veteran police officer with Washington, D.C.’s, Metro Transit police was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State.
Nicholas Young, 36, of Fairfax, Va., was arrested Wednesday morning at Washington’s Metropolitan Police headquarters. He is scheduled in federal court in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday afternoon.
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ABC News reported there was “no pending threat to the D.C. transportation system.”
This is the first time a U.S. law enforcement officer has been charged with a terror-related crime, the FBI said.
Young, a 12-year veteran with the Metro Transit Police Department, was being monitored by the FBI since September 2010. Court documents show he traveled to Libya twice in 2011, where he said he joined rebel forces seeking to oust dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
Young is accused of buying 22 gift cards worth nearly $250 to send to Islamic State operatives so they could buy mobile apps that would help them evade authorities when communicating with one another. He was engaging with an undercover FBI agent with the Joint Terrorism Task force instead of associates of the terrorist group.
In the past three years, more than 100 Americans have been charged in connection supporting or trying to join the Islamic State.
