The FBI has arrested an Edgewood, Maryland, man suspected of providing material support to ISIS.
Mohamad Elshinawy allegedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS and said his "soul was over there with the jihadists," according to the FBI.
Elshinawy was formally charged Monday in U.S. District court in Baltimore with attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, obstruction of agency proceedings, and making false statements and falsifying or concealing material facts.
The FBI said Elshinawy was instructed by ISIS to "cause destruction" or to conduct a terrorist attack in the United States. He allegedly pretended to sell printers on eBay to mask payments coming from a suspected ISIS operative. Elshinawy received the payments through Western Union and PayPal, authorities said.
Elshinawy allegedly used an Internet hotspot allowing him to go online quasi-anonymously and used social media, email accounts and "pay as you go" phones to communicate. The FBI said he used a social media account under the pseudonym "Egyptt in USA" and declared a "love of jihad."
There's no indication that Elshinawy planned any attacks, according to the court records reviewed by the News4 I-Team, but the FBI says Alshinaway made a pledge to support ISIS and stated a desire to die a martyr.
An address listed in a search warrant for Elshinawy's Edgewood home in Harford County shows he lives about two minutes from the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground and a MARC train station.
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He had been under investigation since early this year and is accused of lying to FBI agents who questioned him. The FBI said he "appeared overeager to ingratiate himself with the FBI and be a 'part of the team.'"
The FBI said Elshinawy appeared to have masked or cut off his communication with ISIS after special agents questioned him in July. The agency said he dropped communication channels known to the FBI and "substituted other methods" that were more covert.