New York Pizza Shop Owner Pleads Guilty to Recruiting for ISIS
Earlier today, the 31 year-old owner of a pizza shop in Rochester—one of the very first Americans to ever be accused of recruiting for ISIS—pleaded guilty in federal court.
Elfgeeh ultimately got caught plotting to send two men to Syria, where they were set to join up with the terrorist organization. But as it so often turns out, one of the men was actually an informant with the FBI. Even so, while the feds first got wind of Elfgeeh in 2013, it wasn’t until May of 2014 (when he bought two handguns with the intent of killing two returning U.S. soldiers) that he was finally arrested by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
As U.S. Attorney William Hochul Jr. told ABC News:
Elfgeeh wanted to be a source of support for violent jihad and serve as a facilitator for violent jihadists who wanted to travel overseas and fight. In Elfgeeh’s own postings and messages on social media and statements ... Elfgeeh stated that a person who helps or sponsors a fighter to engage in violent jihad obtains the same religious rewards from Allah (God) as the fighter himself.
As part of his plea agreement, Elfgeeh admitted to both:
- Knowingly attempting to send new recruits to “a foreign terrorist organization, namely, The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)”
- And knowledge that ISIS was, in fact, a terrorist organization.
The deal also notes that, while running the pizza shop, Elfgeeh took advantage of Twitter, WhatsApp, and a whopping 23 different Facebook accounts in an effort to “seek donations and declare his support for violent jihad and allegiance to the Islamic State and its leaders.”
Under the agreement, Elfgeeh will be spending about 22-and-a-half years in prison, though he won’t be officially sentenced until March. You can read Elfgeeh’s full plea deal below:
