Osceola man gets 6 years in federal prison for lying about support for ISIS. (Orlando Sentinel)

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Osceola man gets 6 years in federal prison for lying about support for ISIS

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By AMANDA RABINES | arabines@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

PUBLISHED: January 19, 2024 at 8:36 p.m. | UPDATED: January 19, 2024 at 8:51 p.m.

A federal judge sentenced Moad Mohamed Benkabbou to six years in prison for lying to federal agents about his past support for the Islamic State, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.

Mohamed Benkabbou, a 23-year-old from Kissimmee, was indicted by a federal grand jury last year on three counts of false statements to a federal agency related to a terrorism investigation.

In a sentencing memo filed in September, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the FBI began investigating Mohamed Benkabbou in summer 2019 for his possible involvement in international terrorism. Investigators said he was “prolific on online social media groups espousing radical Islamic jihadi views.”

Federal agents later interviewed Mohamed Benkabbou in 2021 and 2022. During those interviews, prosecutors said he denied supporting any terrorist organization.

Mohamed Benkabbou was unknowingly talking to an undercover source for the FBI, according to court records. The indictment said he discussed supporting ISIS with the informant on numerous occasions. In one conversation he told the informant that the worse outcome for him was to get caught by law enforcement “before he could make hijrah and fulfill his obligation to kill for ISIS.”

Court records show, during the interviews he denied ever having made plans to travel overseas and join ISIS. But according to federal authorities, Mohamed Benkabbou booked at least two plane tickets for that purpose, though he later cancelled those flights.

According to the sentencing memo, he also sent money overseas and shared videos promoting the terrorist organization to others.

In May he pleaded guilty to two of the three counts and was facing a maximum of eight years in prison for each. A third count alleging he pledged loyalty to ISIS was dismissed.

Corey Cohen, an attorney representing Mohamed Benkabbou, told the Sentinel that his client, a deaf young man who reads lips, felt “cut off by society” during the pandemic and “unfortunately turned his thinking to a group that he felt could sympathize and accept him.”

Mohamed Benkabbou graduated from the University of Central Florida while in jail, according to Cohen.

U.S. District Judge Roy B. Dalton’s sentence for Mohamed Benkabbou included a terrorist enhancement for a total of six years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Although his sentence was enhanced, Cohen said the judge gave his client a lower sentence than what he could have received.

He is deeply remorseful for his actions, he said of his client. “He has a loving family and just wants to serve his sentence and move on with his life.”

arabines@orlandosentinel.com