Air Force Veteran Charged With Trying To Join ISIS

Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh was charged Monday with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group.

TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP / Getty Images

A U.S. Air Force veteran was charged Monday with attempting to travel to Syria in order to join the terror group ISIS, the Department of Justice announced.

New Jersey resident Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, 47, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, as well as obstruction of justice.

"Born and raised in the United States, Pugh allegedly turned his back on his

country and attempted to travel to Syria in order to join a terrorist organization," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. Lynch is President Obama's nominee for U.S. attorney general.

Pugh previously served in the Air Force as an avionics instrument system specialist and received training in how to maintain aircrafts and weapons systems, the DOJ said.

Pugh's lawyer declined to comment, but told CNN his client will plead not guilty.

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