A former soldier from Maryland has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Federal prosecutors in Maryland say 24-year-old Craig Baxam of Laurel was arrested Friday.
He is charged with attempting to provide material support to Al-Shabaab. He was arrested on his return to Maryland after traveling in Africa.
Prosecutors say Baxam left the United States in December and was arrested by Kenyan authorities, who suspected he was traveling to Somalia to join al-Shabab. He was interviewed by FBI agents in Kenya and arrested on his return to Maryland.
Baxam faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted, followed by three years of supervised release.
Prosecutors say Baxam was in the army from 2007 to July 2011, serving in Baghdad and Korea.
The National Counterterrorism Center lists al-Shabaab as a clan-based insurgent and terrorist group that operates in southern and central Somalia.
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