article_snippet: Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, accused of making the foiled attempt in January, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of trying to give material support to the terror group and obstruction of justice, the U.S. Justice Department said in a two-count indictment announced Tuesday.
article_snippet: Pugh, a 47-year-old convert to Islam and a former New Jersey resident who served in the Air Force from 1986 to 1990, was arrested upon his return to the United States in January, the U.S. Justice Department said.
article_snippet: Pugh, an American citizen and former member of our military, allegedly abandoned his allegiance to the United States and sought to provide material support to ISIL," Assistant U.S. Attorney General John Carlin said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamist terror group that controls territory in parts of Iraq and Syria.
article_snippet: At " Assistant U.S. Attorney General John Carlin arraignment Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, Pugh appeared in a black T-shirt and khaki pants and stated Pugh name.
article_snippet: In Egypt, Pugh was carrying multiple electronic devices, "including four USB thumb drives that had been stripped of their plastic casings and an iPod that had been wiped clean of data," the Justice Department said in a statement.
article_snippet: Pugh had purposefully tampered with multiple electronic devices to prevent others from getting access to Pugh electronic media, the indictment said.
article_snippet: Pugh was deported to the United States, where agents with the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force obtained a warrant for Pugh devices, including the laptop, the Justice Department said.
article_snippet: Pugh was arrested in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on January 16.
article_snippet: Pugh converted to Islam after moving to San Antonio in 1998, according to the indictment.
article_snippet: In 2001, an American Airlines co-worker alerted the FBI that Pugh "sympathized with Osama bin Laden, felt that the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies overseas were justified, and expressed anti-American sentiment," the complaint said.
article_snippet: One year later, an associate told the FBI that Pugh had expressed interest in traveling to Chechnya to "fight jihad.
article_snippet: Pugh last known U.S. address was in Neptune, New Jersey, but Pugh had lived in Egypt for about the last year, the indictment said.
article_snippet: If convicted, Pugh could be sentenced to up to 35 years in prison.