Cost man pleads guilty in terrorist plot probe

A Gonzales County man arrested by the FBI last year pled guilty on Jan. 25 to charges of planning to provide support to terrorists and receiving child pornography on Monday, Jan. 25.

Jaylyn Christopher Molina, of Cost, was arrested Sept. 21, 2020.

He will be sentenced at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 22. He faces up to 20 years in prison. Molina is currently in custody without bond.

Appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Farrer, Molina pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS and one count of receiving child pornography.

The Gonzales County Sheriff’s Department was among the organizations that assisted in the investigation, according to the U.S. Department of Justice

By pleading guilty Molina, aka Abdur Rahim, admitted that since May 2019 he conspired with 34-year-old South Carolina resident Kristopher Sean Matthews, aka Ali Jibreel, and others “to provide services to ISIS by administering an encrypted, members-only chat group for persons who supported ISIS ideology; by collecting, generating and disseminating pro-ISIS propaganda; by attempting to recruit individuals to join ISIS; and by disseminating bomb-making instructions,” according to a press release from the DOJ.

The child pornography count stemmed from 18 images found on his phone after a Sept. 18, 2020 search warrant was executed.

On Nov. 24, 2020, Molina also plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to ISIS.

In a 14-page criminal complaint, the FBI says it learned Molina had joined an encrypted app around April 2020 which was dedicated to the support of the ideology of ISIS and monitored through “confidential human sources” which were present in the group.

Communications in this group from Molina, as well as on his social media accounts according to this complaint, were concerned with efforts to radicalize and recruit to ISIS other persons, as well as the preparation and sharing of propaganda for ISIS.

This complaint also alleges that within this encrypted app, Molina pledged allegiance to ISIS and discussed traveling to Syria to fight on behalf of the terrorist organization. Also alleged in the complaint is the planning of possible domestic and foreign attacks on behalf of ISIS, as well as distribution of bomb-making information.

The San Antonio FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), was assisted in the investigation by the San Antonio Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service and the Gonzalez County Sheriff’s Office.