A Florida man has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
Romeo Xavier Langhorne, 32, had worked with an undercover FBI agent to create a video teaching members of ISIS how to make bombs.
Langhorne had pledged his support for ISIS in 2014, according to the Justice Department. They noted that he did so knowing that the group was a designated foreign terrorist organization that engaged in acts of terrorism.
In 2018 and 2019, Langhorne reaffirmed his support for ISIS on social media, began posting ISIS-produced videos on YouTube, and joined pro-ISIS chat rooms.
“In December 2018 and January 2019, Langhorne expressed in one of those chat rooms an interest in creating a video that would improve on existing videos demonstrating the making and use of a deadly explosive, triacetone triperoxide (TATP),” the Justice Department said in a press release.
In February 2019, Langhorne began communicating with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as someone working with ISIS. He told the agent about his plans to create an instructional video on making triacetone triperoxide bombs and sought the fed’s help to make it.
“Langhorne told the UCE that, in order to ensure that the video was not removed from the internet by service providers, it should include disclaimers advising that it was intended for educational purposes,” the press release explained. “However, Langhorne informed the UCE that his true purpose in making and distributing the video was to arm ISIS adherents and others with knowledge of how to make TATP and use it for terrorism-related purposes in support of ISIS.”
Over the summer of 2019, the man continued messaging the agent and wanted help creating Islamic music and the video with a recording of a member of ISIS yelling “Allahu Akbar” while breaking out of prison, as well as a clip of children saying, “kill them all.” He said that he wanted the recording “to encourage justified retaliation” against the United States for killing Muslims.
The FBI produced the video, but used a slightly incorrect recipe for the bomb that would not cause an explosion. They sent the video to Langhorne, who then posted it on his YouTube channel.
Langhorne was arrested in Roanoke, Virginia, on November 15, 2019.
“The willingness of this dangerous individual to go to great lengths to harm innocent Americans was always very real,” said FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Sherri E. Onks in a press release, “but through hard work and determination, the FBI Jacksonville Joint Terrorism Task Force successfully disrupted his plan early on, and averted a threat to the safety of our community. Moving forward, we remain as vigilant as ever in our efforts to protect the public from others who support terrorist organizations, and we encourage the public to help us by reporting suspicious activity to law enforcement.”
Following the 20 year sentence, he will be subject to 15 years of supervised release.
“Due to the outstanding cooperation and coordination by our law enforcement partners, great harm to our community was prevented,” stated U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg. “I applaud the diligence of those who worked expeditiously to disrupt this threat to our public’s safety.”