Nicholas Young was found guilty of trying to support ISIS by a federal grand jury Monday, along with obstruction of justice, The Hill newspaper reported.
Young, 38, a former D.C. Metro Transit Police officer from Fairfax, Virginia, was found guilty of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and obstruction of justice, the newspaper said.
A Justice Department statement said that according to trial evidence and court records, 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 in July 2016.
The department said that Young, who joined the Metro Transit police in 2003, believed that an associate of his, who was actually working for the FBI as a so-called confidential human resource, had joined ISIS in 2014. Young reportedly attempted to derail an investigation in 2015 by not informing them about the travel of their resource.
"Nicholas Young swore an oath to protect and defend, and instead violated the public's trust by attempting to support ISIS," Dana J. Boente, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's National Security Division and U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement.
Young will be sentenced on Feb. 23 and will be facing a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison, according to the Justice Department. His sentencing range will be determined based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, the department added.
Young sounded confident about his federal trial earlier this month, telling The Washington Post, "I can’t wait to go to trial. Frankly, my case isn’t like any other terrorism-related case that anyone's ever brought forward."
Young told the Post that the FBI resource told him he was going to fight in Syria for humanitarian reasons and never mentioned he was going to join ISIS.
"They very cleverly created this character of a sympathetic figure, Young told the Post. "When he was talking about going overseas, the reason was to fight (Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad. . . . It was totally humanitarian. . . . 'He's killing women and children, he's killing civilians, people are being buried alive.' And at no time did he show himself to be particularly religious."
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