The Washington Post – “JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Florida teen accused of traveling to the Middle East to train with terrorists is facing federal charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa announced Thursday that a grand jury has indicted Shelton Thomas Bell, 19, of Jacksonville, on charges of conspiring and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. He faces up to 15 years in prison for each of the two charges.
According to the indictment, Bell had planned to travel to the Arabian Peninsula and join Ansar Al-Sharia, which is an alias for al-Qaida there. The group has taken responsibility for multiple attacks on Yemeni forces, including a suicide bombing during a parade in May 2012, which killed more than 100 Yemeni soldiers. The group has also claimed credit for a series of armed assaults in March 2012, killing more than 100 people, including Yemeni soldiers.
A woman who answered the door at one of Bell’s last known addresses in a small, rural neighborhood in Jacksonville said she was his mother and that his lawyer had advised her not to talk. Asked if she had any indication of what led to the charges, she said, ‘None at all.’Investigators reported that Bell and others between May and September 2012 engaged in physical, firearm and other training to prepare for armed conflict in the Middle East. Bell is also accused of soliciting others, including young people, to travel overseas with him to train.
According to court records, Bell made video and audio recordings intended to be distributed to others once he arrived in the Middle East. The purpose was to solicit and recruit others there to participate in violent jihad, federal authorities said.
The federal indictment says that Bell and an unidentified person performed ‘a night-time mission’ and vandalized religious statues at a Jacksonville cemetery. The court records also describe how Bell participated in firearms training for an upcoming fight, recorded terrorist recruiting videos and bought a pair of black, tactical gloves for use in combat.
In September 2012, Bell and a juvenile went to Amman, Jordan, and made contact with someone who investigators claimed could help them travel to Yemen to participate in violent jihad.”
