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Former Virginia police officer sentenced for attempting to support ISIS

Posted at 11:48 AM, Feb 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-24 16:50:54-05

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A former police officer from Fairfax, Virginia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday.

The 38-year-old, Nicholas Young, was a member of the Metro Transit Police Department, and was sentenced on charges of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

According to court documents, Young attempted to provide material support and resources to ISIS by purchasing and sending gift card codes that he believed would allow ISIS recruiters to securely communicate with potential ISIS recruits.

Young also tried to deceive investigators into looking into an associate of his in December 2015.

The FBI in an interview with Young told him that they were looking into an associate of his, who was actually a confidential FBI resource, because he had  join ISIS in late 2014. This is when Young lied to the FBI about his travels to try an deceive them.

Young also tried to impede the federal authorities invesigation  in November 2014.

He did this by sending a text to the confidential FBI resource to make it appear to federal authorities that Young thought his associate, the confidential FBI resource, had left the country on vacation to Turkey. The 38-year-old had actually believed his associate had gone to Turkey, and then Syria, in order to join and fight with ISIS.

Young will also serve 15 years of supervised release after his 15 years in prison.