Sterling Man Sought To Join ISIS, Researched Bomb Making: FBI

STERLING, VA — FBI agents raided a Sterling house where they reportedly found evidence the resident, now in federal custody, supported radical Islam, wanted to join the ISIS terrorist group and researched weapons. Multiple media reports say agents arrested Sean Andrew Duncan Friday and charged him with attempting to obstruct a terrorism investigation. He reportedly tried to run from agents and discard a thumb drive and memory chip he destroyed when agents arrived with a search warrant for his home on Courthouse Square.

Duncan moved to Sterling in June 2017 from the Pittsburgh area. When authorities with the Allegany County Police Department searched his phone following the death of Duncan’s infant child, they reportedly found more than 24,000 internet searches for ISIS-related material, ISIS attacks, weapons, body armor, defense tactics and YouTube videos of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, NBC Washington reports citing court documents.

The FBI began investigating Duncan in February 2016 after a relative told the agency that Duncan " had converted to Islam, may have been radicalized, and voiced his approval of westerners being beheaded in the Middle East," court documents say.

That month Duncan and his wife tried to travel to Turkey, but were denied entry. When they returned to the U.S. they were interviewed by the FBI.

Investigators said in court documents that a Twitter account created in November 2015 and linked to Duncan’s phone had a handle with an Arabic phrase that translates to “The Islamic State.”

WTOP reports a source told the FBI that Duncan told her he was interested in joining ISIS and he had shared an article about how to build a homemade bomb from an al-Qaida publication.

Duncan is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, WTOP says. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

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