In Austin on Friday, 23-year-old Michael Wolfe admitted in federal court that he had been planning since last August to travel to the Middle East to provide his services to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham and to engage in violent jihad in Syria.
He pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
Wolfe, who is also known as Faruq, was arrested on the jetway at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston on June 17 as he was attempting to board a flight to Toronto, Canada. Wolfe was ticketed to travel through Iceland and then to Denmark. According to the Department of Justice new release, Wolfe believed he was meeting a person in Toronto who would take him into Syria, although that person was an FBI undercover employee.
Arrested on the same day was 23-year-old Rahat Khan, who was a student at the University of Texas in Austin. He was arrested at his home in Round Rock on charges of conspiring to recruit people to travel overseas for terrorist activities -- including committing violent jihad.
Both men face up to 15 years in federal prison and fines of up to $250,000. Kahn’s detention hearing is set for Monday, June 30. Wolfe’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
