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Pa. Man In Federal Custody After Pledging Allegiance To ISIS

BALTIMORE (WJZ)--A teenager in Harrisburg is in federal custody tonight, police say he's harged with assisting the Islamic State.

WJZ's Jessica Kartalija has the latest.

According to authorities, a 19-year-old Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

The teen was arrested after police say he was pledging allegiance to the Islamic State and spreading propaganda on social media.

A criminal complaint says he had a backpack filled with ammunition and may have been preparing for an attack in the U.S.

This week, in Edgewood, Harford County, 30-year-old Mohamed Elshinawy is accused of accepting money from the Islamic State.

Charging documents say he too "pledged his allegiance to ISIL and called himself a "soldier of the state".

"If you provide any kind of support to a terrorist organization, thats an offense in and of itself," said Michael Vesley.

Michael Vesley is a terrorism expert at the University of Maryland.

"This is an area that is like Harrisburg where these lone wolves can crop up undetected until they get to a certain point," he said.

Vesley says the FBI is rounding up more potential "lone wolf" terrorists in rural areas, who are internet savvy and tend fly under the radar.

"The people who lived in these homes they were never there, they never interfaced with anyone, they never interacted.  Sometimes that's a red flag."

Charging documents say Aziz tried helping others travel to Syria to fight for the Islamic State group.

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