The California man who was allegedly plotting to bomb the subways of Los Angeles was arrested this week attempting to leave the country to join up with al-Qaida forces in Syria.
Federal agents intercepted Nicholas Teausant, a 20-year-old student at San Joaquin Delta Community College, early Monday as the bus he was on approached the
U.S.-Canada border in Blaine, Wash., the Los Angeles Times reported.
Officials told CBS Los Angeles that Teausant was traveling "with the intent of continuing to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a foreign terrorist organization more widely known as al-Qaida in Iraq."
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The FBI first caught wind of Teausant in early 2013 when an informant started following his anti-American posts online. The two made contact through an online forum and the informant then put Teausant in touch with a terrorism "mentor," who was actually an undercover FBI agent.
Over the next few months, Teausant divulged his plans to travel to the Middle East and join up with Islamic extremists to harm the U.S.
"His goal was maximum fear and a maximum blow to the U.S. government so he could watch it tumble and fall in the wake of a civil war," the arrest affidavit stated.
Teausant, who was once enrolled as a National Guard trainee but never went to basic training because he didn’t meet the minimum requirements, also revealed a plot to blow up the Los Angeles subway system around New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.
"Don't go to LA Anytime soo[n] . . . Please trust me on this . . . and if you do go don't use the subway," Teausant reportedly said in a text message to the undercover agent in December.
The plan was reportedly foiled at the last minute when authorities found out about it, according to the affidavit.
Teausant was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and faces a maximum of 15 years in prison, the Times reported.
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