A 23-year-old Glencoe man has been charged with making false statements to FBI agents about the timing of contacts he had with Syria-based members of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Feds charge Glencoe man with lying to FBI about contact with ISIL
Abdul Raheem Habil Ali-Skelton is accused of lying about contact with ISIL.
March 23, 2016 at 12:00AM
The U.S. attorney's office for Minnesota charged Abdul Raheem Habil Ali-Skelton on Tuesday in a felony information document with one count of making a false statement in connection with a July 16, 2015 conversation with FBI agents.
According to the document, which typically precedes a guilty plea, Ali-Skelton told agents that his last contact with Syria-based ISIL members was in May or early June 2015. But Ali-Skelton "well knew that he had been communicating with such individuals as recently as July 4, 2015," according to the two-page filing.
Ali-Skelton has not been arrested and is expected to be issued a summons to appear in court. A source familiar with the case said the charges were not related to the 10-defendant case charged last year in which five Twin Cities Somali-American men are scheduled to stand trial on May 9 on charges of plotting to travel to Syria and fight for ISIL.
Three other defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to ISIL. Another pleaded guilty to conspiracy in February 2015 and agreed to testify for the government. Meanwhile, another successfully traveled to Syria in 2014.
Minnesota leads the nation in the number of people who have left or sought to leave the country to fight with ISIL in Syria, according to a 2015 congressional report.
Stephen Montemayor • 612-673-1755
Twitter: @smontemayor
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