Adam Gadahn , a former Little Leaguer who grew up to become a spokesman for Osama bin Laden , was born in 1978 in Oregon as Adam Pearlman . He converted to Islam at the age of 17 . Adam Gadahn , a former Little Leaguer who grew up to become a spokesman for Osama bin Laden , was born in 1978 in Oregon as Adam Pearlman . Gadahn , who had treason charges pending against him , was killed in a drone strike in January , the White House acknowledged on Thursday . Another January drone strike killed Ahmed Farouq , the operations leader for Al-Qaida in Pakistan , as well as an American hostage and an Italian hostage . Gadahn 's father , a musician in California , changed his name from Pearlman to Gadahn in the 1970s . Gadahn , who was raised as a Protestant Christian , grew up and was home-schooled on a goat farm in Riverside County , California . In 1995 , at age 17 , he converted to Islam at a mosque in nearby Orange County . A few years later , he moved to Pakistan , where he joined al-Qaida as a propagandist . Using the name 'Azzam the American , ' he appeared in numerous al-Qaida videos , denouncing U.S. moves in Afghanistan and elsewhere and threatening attacks on Western interests abroad . His work led to Gadahn becoming the only American charged with treason since the World War II era . U.S. authorities filed treason charges against him in 2006 and had offered a $ 1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction . The FBI 's Reward for Justice program , which lists wanted terrorists , said Gadahn was 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed a little more than 200 pounds . He had brown hair , brown or hazel eyes and had scars on his chest and right forearm . Further details about Gadahn surfaced in documents leaked by former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden . He was killed during a drone strikes by US forces in January . He was the first American citizen to be charged with treason since the Second World War . U.S. authorities filed treason charges against him in 2006 and had offered a $ 1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction . The documents show that bin Laden 's inner circle was frustrated when , in 2010 , attention in the U.S. shifted to the economic downturn without linking al-Qaida to the damage . 'All the political talk in America is about the economy , forgetting or ignoring the war and its role in weakening the economy , ' Gadahn wrote . The papers also showed that he was a student of U.S. media . Gadahn described ABC as 'all right , actually it could be one of the best channels as far as we are concerned , ' criticized CNN as being too close to the government and heaped scorn on Fox News , which 'falls into the abyss , as you know , and lacks neutrality . '
Adam Gadahan was born in Oregon in 1978 as Adam Pearlman . Was first American to be charged with treason since the World War II . Converted to Islam at the age of 17 while living in Orange County , California . A few years later he moved to Pakistan and became an Al Qaeda propagandist .