Texas Man Sentenced for Planning to Join ISIL
An Austin, Texas man who planned to travel to Syria and join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been sentenced to 82 months in federal prison.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Michael Todd Wolfe aka Faruq, 24, was sentenced Friday afternoon (June 5) by U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks of the Western District of Texas to serve 82 months in federal prison.
Wolfe, who's been in federal custody since his arrest in 2014, pleaded guilty to the charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He told authorities that he planned to travel to the Middle East to provide material support to ISIL.
Wolfe admitted that he: "had applied for and acquired a U.S. passport, participated in physical fitness training, practiced military maneuvers and made efforts to conceal his communications about his plans to travel overseas to engage in violent jihad."
Prior to his arrest, Wolfe purchased airline tickets to fly to Europe so he could make arrangements with an undercover FBI employee there whom he believed would help him travel to Syria through Turkey.
Wolfe was apprehended on June 17, 2014 on a Houston airport jet-way when he attempted to board a flight to Toronto, Canada, on his way to Iceland then Copenhagen, Denmark. From Denmark, Wolfe planned to travel to Syria to join with ISIL and engage in the armed conflict.
[via Justice.gov]