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The Justice Department said on Friday that a Long Beach man who is allegedly providing financial support to people who claim to be members of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was arrested for being arrested on Friday.
28-year-old Mark Lorenzo Villanueva is said to have been in contact with the two people he identified as ISIS fighter jets and expressed his desire to participate in the cause of the terrorist organization.
“It is an honor to fight and die for our faith. It is the best way to go to heaven,” Villanueva is said to have told members of ISIS.
In a message in February, Villanueva offered to send money to “cover” equipment and weapons, the DOJ said.
According to Western Union records, Villanueva then sent a total of $1,615 payments over five months to two intermediaries who accessed money abroad, prosecutors said.
And as Villanueva said he had a bomb and a knife in the ISIS fighter, the FBI later recovered what appeared to be a bomb from his bedroom.
“Supporting terrorist groups, whether at home or abroad, is a serious risk to our national security,” US lawyer Bill Essayli said in a statement.
Villanueva, a legal permanent resident from the Philippines, was expected to make his first appearance in Los Angeles federal court on Friday.
If convicted, he faces 20 years in federal prison.
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