Sheffield Lake man pleads out to supporting ISIS

A Sheffield Lake man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State has pleaded guilty to federal charges of attempting to provide material support to the terrorist organization and illegally possessing firearms as a convicted felon.

Amir Said Abdul Rahman al-Ghazi, 39, entered the plea during an appearance in U.S. District Court on Tuesday and is due back in court in June for a sentencing hearing.

“This case is a stark reminder that ISIL does not present an abstract threat,” Acting U.S. Attorney for Northern Ohio Carole Rendon said in a news release announcing the plea. “Through social media and other means, ISIL and groups like it seek to radicalize people of all backgrounds into its world of violence.”

al-Ghazi

Al-Ghazi, who was known as Robert McCollum until he changed it last year, was arrested in June following an extensive investigation by the FBI in which confidential informants engaged in online communication with him.

During those communications, Al-Ghazi pledged himself to the leader of the Islamic State, which has taken control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria and imposed a harsh version of Islamic law, and urged others to do the same. The group, which is also known as ISIL and ISIS, has attacked western targets and encouraged followers around the world to launch attacks in its name.

The massacre in San Bernardino, Calif., last year in which a husband and wife killed 14 people and injured 22 others before being killed themselves was the most deadly ISIS-inspired attack in the United States.

In his communications with informants, al-Ghazi wrote about a number of attacks he would like to carry out, including an assault on a police station and derailing a train. The train attack would make Americans “look twice in their own backyard,” al-Ghazi wrote in a Sept. 27, 2014, conversation, according to an FBI affidavit.

During another conversation, al-Ghazi wrote that he supported beheading American citizens.

“Al-Ghazi added that he took his beliefs so seriously, that if the Muslims in the United States were at war with non-Muslims, he would cut off the head of his non-Muslim son if necessary,” the FBI affidavit said.

Throughout his conversations with informants, al-Ghazi discussed his desire both to be martyred in an attack, but also to survive and “get away with it,” the affidavit said.

He appears to have been concerned that his activities might bring him to the attention of law enforcement and bragged in conversations about being armed and ready to die fighting rather than be captured, the affidavit said.

Al-Ghazi, who has a string of criminal convictions for drug and weapon charges dating back to 1996, wrote that he didn’t want to be returned to prison.

Al-Ghazi also sought to procure items that would help him in an attack and in making ISIS propaganda videos, including buying a machete, a weapon that has been used to behead western hostages by Islamic State fighters, according to the affidavit. He also wanted to get an AK-47 assault rifle.

After he was sold the rifle in an undercover operation, FBI agents searched his residence and found a pistol and an Islamic State flag.

“It is clear that no area is immune from the influence of ISIL and its supporters,” FBI Special Agent Stephen Anthony, who heads up the bureau’s Cleveland field office, said in the news release. “We hope this case will serve as a strong message to others who may consider providing support to terrorists.”

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