On June 17, 2014, ISIS terrorist group recruit Michael Todd Wolfe aka “Faruqu”of Austin, Texas was arrested by the FBI at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. He planned to fly his family to Europe where he would meet an ISIS fixer who would take them all on to Syria. In Syria, he planned to join the ISIS terrorist organization to join in violence and killings. Unknown to the ISIS terrorist group recruit, his contact was an undercover FBI agent.
He was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 20, 2014.
On June 27, 2014, CNN reported that Michael Todd Wolfe plead guilty to “attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.”
On June 5, 2014, Michael Todd Wolfe was sentenced to 82 years in prison. The FBI press release stated: “Michael Todd Wolfe aka Faruq, 24, of Austin, Texas, was sentenced this afternoon by U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks of the Western District of Texas to serve 82 months in federal prison for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, announced Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Carlin, Acting U.S. Attorney Richard L. Durbin Jr. for the Western District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Christopher Combs of the FBI’s San Antonio Division.”
The American-Statesman provides further background on the case, reporting:
“In a plea last year, he admitted that he obtained a passport, went through physical training and practiced military maneuvers to prepare to engage in violent jihad, investigators said. Federal court records show Wolfe had been communicating with an undercover investigator who told Wolfe he had helped people wanting to travel for jihad in Somalia and Syria. From August 2013 until this month, Wolfe had worked on preparing for the trip. He obtained birth certificates for himself, his wife and two children. He asked an undercover agent for a pair of durable glasses with a head strap that would hold up on the battlefield, and he was running, doing Cross-Fit exercises and practicing martial arts, investigators said. In early August, his wife told an undercover agent that her husband had said his heart yearned to join his Muslim brothers, that he was ready to die for his religion, that ‘he was ready to die for someone; for something,’ according to a criminal complaint. His plan was for him and his family to travel under the false pretext of going to a concert in Europe, and he bought airline tickets so that he could meet an FBI employee, whom he thought would facilitate his trip to Syria through Turkey, the complaint states. He was arrested June 17 at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, where he had been attempting to board a plane to Toronto, according to the complaint. His itinerary indicated that he intended to travel through Iceland, arriving in Copenhagen, Denmark, the next day. From there, investigators said, he planned to make his way to Syria.”
ISIS terrorist group recruit Michael Todd Wolfe aka “Faruqu”of Austin, Texas (Source: American-Statesman)
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