MD man sentenced to prison for trying to aid ISIS

A Maryland man was sentenced this week to 15 years in prison for attempting to provide material support or resources to the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and federal court records.

Michael Sam Teekaye Jr., 22, of Hanover, pleaded guilty to the charge in January in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, according to the case docket.

Court records indicate Teekaye has a history of mental illness.

Between his guilty plea and sentencing, guards found two homemade weapons in Teekaye’s cell, according to a Justice Department release issued July 8. One was a large knife.

According to the release and court documents, Teekaye disclosed plans to join and fight for ISIS while communicating with a female undercover law enforcement officer.

“Mr. Teekaye sought to support a foreign terrorist organization that has committed unspeakable acts of violence and took real-world steps to carry out a terrorist attack in Maryland,” U.S. Attorney Kelly O’Hayes for the District of Maryland said in the release. “Today’s sentence underscores that those who seek to aid terrorist organizations will be identified, prosecuted, and held fully accountable. I commend the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and our law-enforcement partners for their exceptional work in disrupting this threat and protecting our communities before any harm could occur. There is no margin for error when it comes to terrorism.”

FBI Baltimore Field Office Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul said in the release that “undoubtedly, lives were saved because law enforcement thwarted Teekaye’s plan to join ISIS and murder Americans.”

“The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force works around the clock to protect our country by identifying threats like this and preventing them from being carried out and harming our citizens,” Paul said.

Teekaye communicated with the undercover officer multiple times between March and April 2023. According to the release, he said he wanted to travel to Africa to join ISIS as a “mujahid,” or fighter. He also told the officer that his “plan B” was to carry out an attack in the United States against Jewish people and those who support Israel.

In an April 12, 2023, WhatsApp conversation with the undercover officer, Teekaye said, “If I don’t become a mujahid there I will become a mujahid here lol,” according to an affidavit from an FBI officer assigned to an international terrorism squad within the Baltimore Joint Terrorism Task Force.

When the undercover officer asked whether he had considered where he would conduct an attack in the United States, Teekaye replied, “Lol any place or higher up person that supports Israel as a country that’s near me,” according to the affidavit.

According to the release, Teekaye purchased ammunition and range time on three occasions between May and June 2024 at a shooting range in Severn. He told the undercover officer the purchases were part of his training. He also attempted to purchase a Kalashnikov K-9 9mm rifle, but the transaction was denied because he was on probation in a state criminal case.

Between August and October 2024, Teekaye told the undercover officer he had communicated with a Somali ISIS fighter about traveling to Somalia to join the organization, according to the release. Prosecutors said he planned to fly to Turkey, then travel to Ethiopia and cross into Somalia. He sent the undercover officer a screenshot of an Ethiopian e-visa that authorities said he received from the ISIS fighter, along with a travel itinerary showing plans to depart from Baltimore/Washington International Airport on Oct. 14.

According to the release, Teekaye also sent the officer a photograph of himself wearing a black mask and holding a large machete while referring to martyrdom “here or there or both.”

FBI agents arrested Teekaye on Oct. 14, 2024, at the airport after he checked in for his flight and cleared security, the release states.

According to the release and affidavit, Teekaye later said he would “just get out in 20 years and do something here.” Authorities said he also stated that he would never stop.

The release states that investigators found multiple searches on Teekaye’s cellphone for Jewish and Israeli people and organizations in Howard County.

A rabbi who was among those identified in the searches spoke at Teekaye’s sentencing about the impact of Teekaye’s actions on him and the local Jewish community, according to the release.

According to an FBI affidavit, Teekaye has a history of mental illness and multiple diagnoses.

He was briefly detained under an emergency petition in 2019 after admitting he wanted to “cut the head off of [a fellow student] and kill him,” according to the affidavit, which cited a Howard County Police Department report.

Teekaye came to the FBI’s attention in December 2019 after the agency learned of a social media account he operated that expressed extremist Islamist ideology, according to the affidavit. A male undercover FBI employee began communicating with him shortly afterward.

The affidavit also describes a July 19, 2022, incident at an elementary school in Columbia, where a Howard County police officer responded to a report of a man in a parking lot wearing a black face mask and carrying a large fixed-blade knife.

The person was identified as Teekaye, who was 18 at the time. According to the affidavit, he eventually complied with an officer’s commands to drop the knife. Officers also found a second pocketknife on him.

While in custody, Teekaye told officers he was going to get the knife back and kill all of them, according to the affidavit. He also said he was at the school to fight a classmate.

Teekaye later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge and received probation before judgment, according to the affidavit. He remained on supervised probation until September 2024.

Reporting by Julie E. Greene, The Herald-Mail / USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect.