Teen facing terror charges for alleged ISIS-inspired plot

BANGOR, Maine — Federal officials have upgraded charges against a Maine teenager accused of building explosives as part of a plot to attack a mosque in Chicago.

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Xavier Pelkey was initially charged with federal weapons offenses in February, and in a two-count superseding indictment returned on Nov. 9, was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and possession of unregistered destructive devices.

Federal prosecutors said that from November 2021 to February 2022, Pelkey conspired with other individuals to plan a violent attack on a Shia mosque in the Chicago area.

When Pelkey was initially arrested in February, prosecutors said he had been plotting to travel to Chicago and commit “mass murder,” the Chicago Tribune reported.

In the criminal complaint filed in Maine District Court, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said its agents found homemade explosive devices in Pelkey’s bedroom when they served a search warrant in February. The explosives were made of several fireworks bundled together with tape.

Agents said they found that staples, pins and thumb tacks had been added with tape to the device, with the intention of increasing the amount of shrapnel in an explosion. Agents said that when they asked Pelkey why the fireworks were taped together, he said that he wanted to make a “bigger boom.”

Investigators cited statements from other teenagers allegedly involved in the plot in Illinois and Kentucky as evidence that Pelkey planned to bring guns and ammunition to Chicago, in addition to the explosive devices, WMTW reported.

Pelkey’s attorney did not respond to a request from the Chicago Tribune for comment, but previously described his client as a “bright young man” with a loving and supportive family in a bond hearing earlier this year.

Pelkey has pleaded not guilty. If convicted of both charges, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

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