DC Metro Transit Cop Arrested After Allegedly Trying to Help ISIS

WASHINGTON, DC -- A D.C. Metro Transit cop has been arrested on charges that he tried to help ISIS, according to a Department of Justice statement.

Nicholas Young, a 36-year-old from Fairfax who since 2003 has served as an officer with the agency charged with protecting the transportation infrastructure of Washington, D.C., is accused of trying to help ISIS operatives better communicate in secret and had purchased gift cards so ISIS operatives could evade authorities, the DOJ said.

But Young was never in contact with ISIS — the people he was talking to were actually agents with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington, which had been conducting an undercover investigation into the officer for years, the statement goes on to say.

Young was arrested Wednesday morning by FBI agents after allegedly trying to send $245 worth of mobile-based gift cards to ISIS last month.

It all started back in 2010 when law enforcement first interviewed Young in connection with his acquaintance, Zachary Chesser, who had pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists. Over the next several years, Young had "numerous" interactions with undercover officers, as well as with a cooperating witness.

Young even said he had traveled to Libya twice in 2011 and had been with rebels in an attempt to overthrow the Muammar Qaddafi regime. Authorities searched his bags and found that Young traveled with body armor and a Kevlar helmet, among other items, according to the DOJ.

"According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, in 2014, Young met on about 20 separate occasions with an FBI confidential human source (CHS) posing as a U.S. military reservist of Middle Eastern descent who was becoming more religious and eager to leave the U.S. military as a result of having had to fight against Muslims during his deployment to Iraq," the statement adds. "During these conversations Young advised CHS on how to evade law enforcement detection by utilizing specific travel methods and advised CHS to watch out for informants and not discuss his plans with others."

CHS led Young to believe he had left the United States and joined ISIS in the fall of 2014, but at this point the CHS had stopped talking to Young and it was the FBI that had taken over messages on the email account, the statement claims.

Young in June 2015 asked CHS for advice in sending money overseas, saying, according to the DOJ: "[U]nfortunately I have enough flags on my name that I can’t even buy a plane ticket without little alerts ending up in someone’s hands, so I imagine banking transactions are automatically monitored and will flag depending on what is going on."

When the FBI interviewed Young in December 2015 about CHS, Young claimed he'd gone to vacation in Turkey about a year ago and that he didn't know of anyone who had helped him cross the border into Syria, the statement claims.

Last month, Young emailed CHS to say he had purchased gift cards for mobile messaging accounts ISIS uses in recruiting, and he allegedly sent 22 gift card codes on July 28 to the FBI agent with the following message: "Respond to verify receipt . . . may not answer depending on when as this device will be destroyed after all are sent to prevent the data being possibly seen on this end in the case of something unfortunate."

If convicted, Young faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. He has a court appearance scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday.

In a statement, Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said he had worked "hand-in-glove" with the FBI along with Metro Transit Police Chief Ron Pavlik to "ensure that this individual would be brought to justice."

It was Metro Transit Police that alerted the FBI about Young, Wiedefeld said.

"Obviously, the allegations in this case are profoundly disturbing," he continued. "They're disturbing to me, and they're disturbing to everyone who wears the uniform."

Pavlik said the situation "reinforces that, as citizens, we all have a duty to report suspicious activity whenever and wherever it occurs."

Young's employment was terminated immediately after his arrest.

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