Maine teen depicted by FBI as center of ISIS-inspired terror plot indicted by grand jury

WATERVILLE, Maine (WMTW) – A federal grand jury as indicted a Maine teenager depicted in court docket papers at being on the middle of an ISIS-inspired terror plan.

Xavier Pelkey, 18, of Waterville is dealing with a grand jury cost of possessing unregistered damaging units.

The indictment reads Pelkey knowingly possessed firearms, particularly damaging units, which weren’t registered to him within the Nationwide Firearms Registration and Switch Document.

The cost is a Class C felony, with penalties for Pelkey that embrace no more than 10 years imprisonment and/or no more than a $250,000 wonderful.

The five-page declaration from Maine-based FBI Agent Garret Drew, unsealed in March, depicted Pelkey as eager to die as a martyr in an ISIS-inspired assault allegedly concentrating on Chicago-area mosques and a synagogue.

As new proof connected to the declaration, the FBI pointed to a hand-painted ISIS flag hanging on the wall of Pelkey’s bed room within the condominium the place brokers seized three do-it-yourself explosive units once they arrested him on Feb. 11.

Pelkey is presently charged with one depend of possession of unregistered damaging units and is being detained with out bail.

Nevertheless, the FBI declaration goes additional than the legal grievance, saying Pelkey “conspired” with a 15-year-old in Chicago and a 17-year-old in Kentucky with whom he communicated over Instagram utilizing the identify “Abdullah.”

Citing statements from the opposite teenagers, the declaration alleges Pelkey supposed to convey weapons and ammunition to Chicago, along with his explosive units, after touring there by bus or by practice in late March.

Pelkey allegedly informed the Chicago teen he had constructed an explosive system to “get extra folks,” the Drew declaration mentioned.

On Feb. 5, FBI brokers in Chicago seized “a number of firearms, together with a Remington pump shotgun, swords, knives, a bow and arrows, a number of do-it-yourself ISIS flags, and a number of digital units” from the Chicago’s teen’s residence, the declaration revealed.

The plot known as for getting into a mosque the place the plotters would “separate the adults from the kids, then homicide the adults,” in keeping with the declaration, citing statements by the Chicago teen.

The declaration continued, “If they’d not encountered legislation enforcement at that time, they might proceed on to a different Shia mosque or Jewish synagogue and execute the identical plan. They didn’t have a plan to flee however slightly their plan ended with them being shot by legislation enforcement.”

On Feb. 13, FBI brokers raided the house of a Kentucky teen “suspected of conspiring to supply materials help to a overseas terrorist group,” the declaration mentioned.

The Kentucky teen informed brokers Pelkey “informed him that he wished Allah to grant him to be a shaheed and die whereas combating in the reason for Allah,” the declaration mentioned.

“Shaheed” is an Arabic phrase meaning a martyr in Islam.

Pelkey’s court-appointed protection lawyer, Christopher MacLean, didn’t return messages looking for remark.

Jenna Spaulding, a spokeswoman for the workplace of U.S. Lawyer Darcie McElwee, declined to remark.

The federal authorities introduced its first ISIS-related terrorism indictment in 2014, and the variety of instances peaked round 150 in 2015, earlier than their frequency declined, in keeping with the Heart on Nationwide Safety at Fordham Regulation Faculty.

On the time, then-FBI Director James Comey acknowledged the FBI had open investigations associated to ISIS in all 50 states.

Many instances centered on People or “overseas fighters” making an attempt to affix ISIS in Iraq and Syria, such because the first ISIS jury trial conviction in New York, in 2016.

“ISIS stays relentless and ruthless in its marketing campaign of violence in opposition to the West and has aggressively promoted its hateful message, attracting like-minded violent extremists,” FBI Director Christopher Wray informed Congress in September 2020. “It’s seen by many who use messaging apps and take part in social networks. Finally, most of the people drawn to ISIS search a way of belonging.”

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