NC man – Alexander Justin White, 30, of Durham, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison after supporting ISIS online and trying to travel to North Africa to fight for the group in 2024.
When Alexander Justin White arrived at the airport with a plan that he believed would take him to ISIS, the trip lasted only until federal agents stepped in.
White, 30, of Durham, was sentenced Monday to eight years in federal prison for supporting ISIS and attempting to join the group to fight on its behalf in 2024. The case centered on what prosecutors described as a shift from online agitation to an overseas departure that never happened.
White was convicted of conspiring to provide material support and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina said the conduct included extensive activity on social media between May and October 2024. such as recruiting videos and posts used to agitate people to violence.
Prosecutors also said White carried out, or tried to carry out, financial transactions that benefited terrorist camps and other campaigns financing ISIS members and supporters.
The government’s account portrayed White as someone who openly discussed his plans in places where investigators could see them. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said White discussed traveling overseas to join ISIS on Facebook and through encrypted messaging applications. describing a desire to fight and a willingness to kill U.S. military members and citizens.
After White’s arrest in December 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said he allegedly took steps to make his travel appear like a vacation. Prosecutors said he claimed he would rather die than return to the United States.
Federal law enforcement moved in as White attempted to board a flight to North Africa. The FBI’s Raleigh-Durham Joint Terrorism Task Force took him into custody when he was preparing to travel with a personal combat medical kit he’d purchased “in preparation for his new life as a would-be terrorist. ” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Reid Davis. FBI Special Agent in Charge in North Carolina. described the plan as a betrayal aimed at putting White on the ground with ISIS. “White planned to abandon his family. betray his country. and fly to Morocco to actively fight with the terrorist group ISIS. ” Davis said. He added that “it cannot be overstated that ISIS continues to pose a threat to U.S. interests, both domestically and abroad.”.
U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle said the message from the Justice Department and the FBI is meant to land regardless of the route a person takes toward violent extremism. “The United States does not tolerate terrorism in any form,” Boyle said. “Whether keyboard warriors or wannabe fighters, the Department of Justice and FBI will relentlessly bring them to justice.”.
The timeline of posts. financial activity. and travel preparations—spanning from May through October 2024. culminating in a December 2024 arrest—left prosecutors with a single through-line: from supporting ISIS online to trying to join it in person. In this case. the attempt to leave the country ended in federal custody. and the sentencing Monday closed the door on the journey White had been preparing to make.
Alexander Justin White Durham North Carolina ISIS material support federal prison sentence FBI Raleigh-Durham Joint Terrorism Task Force Ellis Boyle Reid Davis terrorism case