A California man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to seeking to provide support to the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria, where he allegedly hoped to train fighters for the jihadist network.
Nicholas Michael Teausant, a 22-year-old convert to Islam, was arrested in March last year as he tried to cross into Canada by bus en route to Syria, where he planned to join ISIS, authorities said.
According to the indictment, he caught the attention of the FBI in 2013 after he joined online forums where he expressed a desire "to conduct violent jihad and to be part of America's 'downfall.'"
"This case, like others in communities across the United States and around the world, is an example of how a young person from any place and any background might make the terrible decision to try and become part of a terrorist organization," Benjamin Wagner, the attorney representing the US, said in a statement.