American Security Today September Digital Magazine September 2016 | Page 74

Volume 7

NC Man Arrested for Trying to Create
ISIS Sleeper Cell

September 2016 Edition
According to the complaint, in June 2015, an individual (CW-1) was arrested in the Northern District
of Ohio after attempting to purchase an AK-47 assault rifle and ammunition from an undercover law
enforcement officer. CW-1 had pledged allegiance
to ISIL in social media and made statements expressing interest in conducting attacks in the United States.
Hendricks had contacted CW-1 over social media
to recruit him in the spring of 2015, according to
the complaint. Hendricks allegedly told CW-1 that
he “needed people” and wanted to meet in person;
that there were several “brothers” located in Texas
and Mexico; that he was attempting to “get brothers
to meet face to face;” and that he wanted “to get
brothers to train together.”

Erick Jamal Hendricks used social media networks to identify
people to train to join ISIL, according to federal authorities.
(Image: Mecklenburg Count Sheriff’s Department)

A Charlotte, North Carolina, man was arrested this
morning on a federal complaint charging him with
conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), a designated
foreign terrorist organization.
Erick Jamal Hendricks, 35, tried to recruit people
to train together and conduct terrorist attacks in
the United States on behalf of ISIL, according to a
criminal complaint unsealed today in U.S. District
Court in the Northern District of Ohio.
The arrest was announced by Assistant Attorney
General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S.
Attorney Carole S. Rendon of the Northern District
of Ohio and Special Agent in Charge Stephen D.
Anthony of the FBI’s Cleveland Office.

(Learn More, courtesy of wochit Vote It! Election 2016 and
YouTube)

According to the complaint, CW-1 said that Hendricks tested his religious knowledge and commitment, inquiring about his willingness to commit
“jihad,” to die as a “martyr” and his desire to enter “jannah” (paradise). CW-1 understood these
statements to mean that Hendricks was recruiting
people to train together for the purpose of conducting a terrorist attack in the U.S. and to see if CW-1
was suitable for recruitment, according to the allegations.
CW-1 allegedly believed that Hendricks and the
“brothers in Texas and Mexico” may have been responsible for a thwarted terrorist attack in Garland,
Texas, on May 3, 2015, and therefore CW-1 decided to stay away from social media for a period
following the attack to minimize detection by law
enforcement.

Hendricks also allegedly communicated over social
media with several other people, including an undercover FBI employee (UCE-1). According to the
complaint, on April 16, 2015, Hendricks instructed
UCE-1 to download the document “GPS for the
Ghuraba in the U.S.”, which included a section entitled “Final Advice” which advocated that “brothers
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