A 21-year-old resident of Orange pleaded guilty Monday to attempting to help Islamic State terrorists in Syria.
Adam Dandach, who is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 11, faces up to 25 years in federal prison.
Starting in November 2013 and through July 2 of last year, Dandach attempted to go to Syria to support ISIS, according to his plea agreement.
Dandach filed for an expedited passport in November 2013 and received it the following month. He booked a flight to fly to Istanbul, Turkey, on Dec. 25, 2013.
He postponed his travel plans when a family member, who learned of his trip, took away his passport and money for the trip, according to the plea agreement.
Dandach was undeterred, however. He continued to correspond and make plans with other terrorists in Syria, according to the plea deal.
The defendant obtained booklets on how to travel to Syria with maps of ISIS-controlled areas, according to court documents.
Dandach applied for another expedited passport last year and falsely told officials he accidentally threw his passport away in June 2013, according to the government.
The State Department sent Dandach a new passport on July 1 of last year. That day, he booked a flight for the following day from John Wayne Airport to Istanbul, where he intended to go on to Syria.
When Dandach arrived at the airport, however, he was arrested on suspicion of passport fraud.
While at the airport, authorities seized his laptop computer and cell phone in his luggage that contained downloaded “jihadi songs” supporting ISIS, maps of areas controlled by the terror group, Twitter updates on the fighting in Syria and Iraq, and a pamphlet on how to get to a Syrian border city from Istanbul.
He emailed a friend that day, saying “that he did not know why people did not step forward and help the situation, and complained ‘how people expect a khilafah to arise without bloodshed’ and claimed that it’s a ‘golden opportunity,’ ” according to the plea agreement.
According to court documents, Dandach told FBI agents when he was arrested of his plans to “pledge allegiance to the leader of ISIL, Al- Baghdadi. And he intended to live under the control of ISIL. Defendant intended to take weapons training from ISIL to defend himself. Further, defendant told FBI special agents that ISIL had declared a caliphate on June 29, 2014, and that it was mandatory for every Muslim who is able to migrate to the land of Islam.”
After Dandach’s post-indictment arraignment, defense attorney Pal Lengyel-Leahu said his client was headed to Syria to help refugees of the civil war, not terrorists.
“He’s always said the same thing. He was going to help with widows and orphans,” Lengyel-Leahu said.
Messages left with Lengyel-Leahu Monday were not immediately returned.
Dandach, whose father lives in Lebanon, was born and raised in Orange, his attorney said. The defendant legally changed his name while he was in high school.
—City News Service