New Jersey man handed max prison term for helping ISIS
NEWARK, N.J. - A New Jersey man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Alaa Saadeh was charged last year along with his brother and two other men, and pleaded guilty in October.
The U.S. attorney's office says the West New York resident planned to travel overseas to join ISIS and let his brother buy a plane ticket with his credit card to fly there to join the militant organization.
At his sentencing in Newark on Tuesday, Saadeh apologized to the court and said he felt horrible about his actions.
The sentence was the maximum under Saadeh's plea agreement.
According to the criminal complaint released last year a Rutherford man who is Saadeh's brother traveled to the Middle East in May to join the group and was arrested in Jordan. Saadeh's credit card was used to buy his brother's plane ticket, and Saadeh was aware of his plans to join ISIS, the complaint alleges.
The complaint alleges that Topaz had numerous meetings and exchanged text messages and phone calls with Saadeh, his brother and 20-year-old Munther Omar Saleh, a New York City college student who was arrested last year and charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Prosecutors claimed Saadeh told another individual that he suspected that Saleh or Samuel Rahamin Topaz had "snitched" on his brother and caused his arrest overseas, and that, if true, Saadeh thought he would have to "kill someone."
In a June 13 conversation secretly recorded by an informant, Saadeh allegedly spoke of his knowledge of his brother's plans. He also allegedly told the person what to do if the FBI began asking questions.
"You just play dumb," Saadeh said, according to the complaint. "Like you just really don't know. That all you know is that he was going to see his parents."
The complaint says Saadeh's parents were deported from the U.S. after they were convicted of crimes several years ago but didn't specify what those crimes were.