Judge keeps man in jail until trial on aiding terror charge
NOFOLK - A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that a Virginia man must remain in jail until trial on a charge that he tried to aid a terrorist group in Iraq, while his public defender argued that he was "entrapped" by undercover FBI agents over "bravado and talk."
Magistrate Judge Lawrence R. Leonard said Lionel Williams, 26, of Suffolk, Virginia, poses too much of a danger to society.
Williams allegedly swore allegiance to the Islamic State group in Iraq on Facebook. After undercover FBI agents approached him as people aligned with the group, Williams gave $250 to help them buy weapons, according to court documents.
Williams also owned an AK-47 assault rifle and allegedly told undercover agents that he wanted to commit a local "martyrdom operation" before his arrest in late December.
The judge said that even without his AK-47, which the FBI confiscated, Williams could pose a threat "as we've seen in Berlin and Nice" where terrorists struck pedestrians with trucks.
