Va. teen charged with helping man join ISIS
A high school student from Northern Virginia has been charged with helping a man join up with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
The 17-year-old resident of Woodbridge, Va., is accused of successfully helping a man travel to Syria and of distributing Islamic State messages.
{mosads}The teen was taken into custody Friday and is currently charged as a juvenile, but may eventually be charged as an adult, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the story.
The Post reported that investigators spent more than a month conducting surveillance before raiding the home of the teen’s family and taking him into custody.
In all, about 180 Americans have fled or attempted to join the fighting in Syria, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said, but it’s unclear how many of them joined ISIS.
Clapper said earlier this week that the “40 or so” Americans who left to join militant groups fighting in Syria and returned to the U.S. don’t pose a threat to national security.
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