Edgewood ISIS Supporter To Be Sentenced

BALTIMORE, MD — Nearly two years after an Edgewood man was arrested by the FBI, he is being sentenced for his ties to terrorism.

Mohamed Elshinawy, 32, admitted that he accepted money from the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). He pleaded guilty in August to providing and attempting to provide material support to ISIS and making false statements in connection with a terrorism matter.

Between March and June 2015, Elshinawy received $8,700 from ISIS through Paypal, Western Union and eBay, where he posed as a printer dealer to conceal the transfer of funds, according to court documents. The money was toward conducting a terror attack.

Elshinawy declared online that "his soul was over there with the jihadists and that every time he saw the news, he smiled," according to court documents.

On Monday, the first of a two-day sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, a defense expert reportedly said that the Edgewood man was not to be taken seriously.

Testimony presented on his behalf indicated that Elshinawy was a "small-time hustler" who "smoked marijuana heavily" and "talks big but has been a serial failure" at accomplishing anything, according to WBAL.

When investigators found he accepted payment from ISIS, Elshinawy said the money was to carry out an attack on U.S. soil but later told federal investigators that he saw it as an opportunity to steal money from thieves, and said the FBI should thank him, even going so far as to say the agency should offer him a job for defrauding ISIS, according to court records.

After being questioned by the FBI in July 2015, Elshinawy allegedly took steps to conceal his communication with ISIS supporters, including purchasing pay-as-you-go phones; creating multiple email aliases to communicate with ISIS operatives, with some accounts accessed by people overseas; disassociating on Facebook with contacts who showed support for ISIS; telling his brother that he was being monitored; and employing a hot spot in addition to his home's internet provider to try to make his online activity anonymous.

The FBI raided his Honda Accord and his Edgewood townhouse in October 2015 and found evidence of the hot spot; burner phones with recent, ongoing communications with ISIS operatives; documents showing wire transfers; homemade bomb-making materials, weapons parts and weapons.

"...Mr. Elshinawy initially told the FBI that he was defrauding the terrorists, but further investigation showed that Mr. Elshinawy was supporting the terrorists and misleading the FBI," then U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein said in a statement when Elshinawy was federally charged.

• Edgewood Man Guilty Of Supporting ISIS, Terror Attack Plans
• Alleged ISIS Supporter Indicted: U.S. Attorney
• Edgewood Man Pretended He Was Stealing from ISIS: Feds
• Edgewood Man Who Declared 'Love of Jihad' Arrested by FBI: Report

The maximum sentence for conspiracy to provide and for providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization is 20 years in prison; the maximum sentence for collection of terrorism financing is 20 years in prison; and the maximum sentence for making false statements in a terrorism matter is eight years in prison.

Elshinawy has been detained since Dec. 11, 2015, when the FBI took him into custody.

According to WBAL, he may be sentenced next week.

Image via Shutterstock.