Long Beach Man Arrested for Allegedly Funding Islamic State, Possessing Bomb Materials
A 28-year-old California resident, Mark Lorenzo Villanueva, faced federal charges on Friday for allegedly providing financial assistance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Born in the Philippines and currently a permanent U.S. resident, Villanueva communicated with individuals claiming to be ISIS fighters via social media earlier this year, expressing his intent to support their activities and offering financial aid.
According to Western Union records disclosed by the DOJ, over a five-month period, he sent 12 payments totaling $1,615 to two intermediaries who funneled the money overseas.
During the arrest, the FBI recovered an object resembling a bomb from Villanueva’s bedroom as per photos shared on their official Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Patrick Grandy, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, stated, “Villanueva is accused of financially supporting and pledging allegiance to a terror group that poses a threat to the U.S. and its interests globally.”
In an unrelated incident earlier this year, Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, a 19-year-old former member of the Michigan Army National Guard, was arrested for allegedly planning a mass shooting at a U.S. military base in Michigan on behalf of ISIS.
The arrest took place on the scheduled day of the attack, after he visited an area near the military base and launched a drone as part of the attack plan. Said intended to target the Army’s Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command, located in a Detroit suburb and responsible for managing the Army’s tank supply chain.
Prosecutors claimed that he offered assistance to undercover law enforcement officers in executing the attack by training them in firearm use, manufacturing Molotov cocktails, and providing armor-piercing ammunitions and magazines for the assault.
Said was charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and distributing information related to a destructive device.