New Jersey Man Charged With Plotting To Support ISIS Militants

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Federal officials have arrested a former New Jersey man who is accused of plotting to support terror groups.

Nader Saadeh, 20, was charged Monday with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS -- a designated foreign terrorist organization.

The former Rutherford resident pleaded not guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Newark. He was ordered held without bail, WCBS 880's Marla Diamond reported.

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The feds received a tip from a roommate in the spring that Saadeh's behavior had changed dramatically and he had become obsessed with ISIS, 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported.

Saadeh said that ISIS' execution of a captured Jordanian Air Force pilot and the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris earlier this year were justified, according to authorities.

In May, Saadeh flew to Jordan from John F. Kennedy International Airport, telling some of his friends that he was going to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS, authorities said. Investigators intercepted emails from his family, begging him not to, according to a criminal complaint.

Saadeh's mother is quoted in the criminal complaint as saying, "Do not go anywhere if you love me, don't kill your mom."

It's not clear if he ever made it there because court documents reveal he was thrown in jail for several days almost immediately after arriving in Jordan for texting his brother a link to a propaganda video, Rincon reported.

He could face several decades in prison if convicted.

Saadeh's arrest comes just weeks after authorities arrested his 23-year-old brother, Alaa, and another man on similar charges. The arrests stem from an ongoing FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation of several people in New York and New Jersey who have allegedly conspired to provide material support to the terror groups.

Samuel Rahamin Topaz, 21, of Fort Lee, was charged earlier this month with conspiring to join ISIS.

The criminal complaint alleges Topaz had numerous meetings and exchanged text messages and phone calls with Alaa Saddeh, his brother and 20-year-old Munther Omar Saleh. The college student from Queens was arrested this month and charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Saleh allegedly cased the George Washington Bridge and was reportedly seeking to explode a pressure-cooker bomb like the ones used at the Boston Marathon in 2013.

Another defendant, Fareed Mumini, allegedly conspired with Saleh and tried to kill an FBI agent with a knife during his arrest on Staten Island.

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• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant