Federal officials say a man from Texas is suspected of planning terrorist attacks that targeted the White House and Trump (Trump) Tower in Manhattan. On Monday (Jan. 25), the suspect pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to the ISIS terrorist group and illegal possession of child pornography.
Jaylyn Christopher Molina, 22, of Cost, Gonzales County, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS and unlawful possession of child pornography, the Justice Department said in a news release. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS and receiving child pornography.
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Molina appeared before U.S. District Judge Richard Farrer and confessed that since May 2019, he has been working with 34-year-old South Carolina resident Kristopher Sean Matthews, who goes by the name Ali Jibreel, and other ISIS supporters conspired to provide services to the terrorist organization.
According to the confession, Molina managed an encrypted, members-only chat group for those who supported the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) ideology. Officials said Molina collected, generated and disseminated pro-ISIS propaganda in an attempt to recruit individual members to join ISIS and teach how to build bombs.
Molina and Matthews discussed traveling to Syria to fight alongside the terrorist group and planned attacks at Trump Tower and the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, as well as the White House and the headquarters of federal law enforcement agencies, according to court records.
Molina allegedly said, “We need to stick together, we need to defeat them, and we need to take a lot of casualties.” The two men discussed plans to kill people in terrorist attacks. Matthews said it would be best to attack government buildings, according to officials.
“You (the United States) are my enemy and I will never wear your flag …… but I will raise the black flag of Allah,” Molina wrote, News4 reported, citing charging documents from last September.
The two also imagined that if the terror attack was successful, they would gain fame and would have “rock star status” and “become internet sensations.”
Federal authorities seized Molina’s phone on Sept. 18, 2020, under a search warrant, from which they found 18 images of child pornography.
Molina faces up to 20 years in federal prison for the conspiracy charge; and up to 20 years in federal prison for the child pornography charge. He remains in federal custody pending sentencing, officials said.
Separately, Matthews pleaded guilty last November to charges of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS. His sentencing is scheduled for March 4.
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