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Press Release

Georgia Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIL

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

Leon Nathan Davis, 37, of Augusta, Georgia, pleaded guilty earlier today to an information charging him with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Edward J. Tarver of the Southern District of Georgia and Special Agent in Charge J. Britt Johnson of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office made the announcement.  Davis pleaded guilty in federal court before U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall of the Southern District of Georgia.

According to the testimony presented in court during the guilty plea proceeding, for more than a year, an FBI-led team investigated Davis’ attempts to join an overseas designated foreign terrorist organization.  Davis was arrested at the Atlanta Hartfield Airport in October 2014 on a parole violation, after he had purchased a ticket to fly to Turkey and then traveled from Augusta to the Atlanta Airport.  Davis has been in custody since his arrest.

Providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization is a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.  A sentencing hearing will be conducted after the U.S. Probation Office conducts a presentence investigation.

Assistant Attorney General Carlin joined U.S. Attorney Tarver in commending the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles for their work on this case.  Assistant Attorney General Carlin and U.S. Attorney Tarver also expressed their gratitude to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service and the Atlanta Police Department for their contributions to the investigation.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Georgia and the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

Updated May 27, 2015

Press Release Number: 15-681