AKRON: — Erick Jamal Hendricks swore his allegiance to ISIS and recruited others to do the same.
But his trail ended inside an Akron courtroom, where he was recently convicted of lending support to the terrorist group.
“He was a very real threat,” said Justin Herdman, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. "This was a person who was basically solely committed to identifying people who were in a position to assist ISIS."
His recruiting efforts played out in the courtroom of federal Judge John R. Adams in Akron, where a jury convicted him following a highly-secured trial.
Jurors heard Hendricks, 37, speaking to who he thought was a potential ally. In fact, the man was an FBI informant who secretly recorded the conversation.
"Preparation is the ability to shoot,” Hendricks says in the recording obtained by Channel 3 News. “That's our honor. They take away our weapons, our honor is taken away.
"As long as you know it's right and pleasing to Allah, be persistent and be sincere."
Hendricks’ goal was to build cells of ISIS support in the U.S. by recruiting loyalists to the terrorism network.
A North Carolina resident, Hendricks was convicted on charges of conspiring and attempting to provide support to ISIS. He faces up to 30 years in prison when he’s sentenced later this year. He remains in federal custody.
FBI agents tied him to a Sheffield Lake man, Amir Al-Ghazi, who pleaded guilty to purchasing an AK 47 in support of ISIS and testified against Hendricks.
Hendricks was also tied to one of two men who died in a shootout with law enforcement in Garland, Texas in 2015. Those men intended to attack an art exhibit deemed offensive to Muslims.
"Somebody could make a movie out of what happened to me," Hendricks is heard on a recorded phone call from jail prior to trial.
He is one of eight men convicted in recent years in Ohio for charges relating to ISIS support.
“Those people are in our midst. That’s just the reality,” Herdman said.
Hendricks, like many ISIS sympathizers, relied on social media to do most of his recruiting. In his meeting with the undercover informant, which took place in Baltimore, he urges his would-be follower to use covert methods to avoid detection while posting to sites such as Twitter.
“It’s entirely possible that all he was ever going to do was recruit, but the fact that he was involved with two people that actually did something [in Garland, Texas] is a concern,” said Terry O’Sullivan, a University of Akron professor and director of the Center for Emergency Management and Homeland Security Policy research.
The FBI says a top priority is to protect Americans from terrorist attacks. To that end, they say they have about 1,000 active ISIS-related investigations ongoing across the country.
Hendricks’ case is one of only four --resulting in a conviction or indictment so far this year. Experts estimate ISIS sympathizers, using thousands of online social media profiles, have successfully recruited at least 250 Americans to their cause.
For the FBI and Homeland Security agents, it’s a full-time effort.
"Every day,” said Steve Oluic, a retired Army officer and counter terrorism expert who runs his own consulting agency, SVE in Chardon. “It’s scanned 24 hours, seven days a week and their capabilities are growing.
“The dilemma with the terrorists, when they act, that one act can kill many or can kill a few. But it really doesn’t matter how many they kill because it does cause terror and panic among the populist.”
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