JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — (Editor's Note: The video above is from a separate report)
A St. Augustine man was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison Thursday, followed by 15 years of supervised release, for attempting to provide material support to ISIS.
Romeo Xavier Langhorne, 32, of St. Augustine, pleaded guilty in the Middle District of Florida to one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIS on May 13, 2021.
According to court documents, Langhorne pledged his allegiance to ISIS at some point in 2014, knowing that ISIS was a designated foreign terrorist organization that engaged in acts of terrorism.
Between 2018 and 2019, officials say Langhorne reaffirmed his support of ISIS on various social media accounts.
In December 2018 and January 2019, Langhorne expressed in one of those chat rooms an interest in creating a video that would improve on existing videos demonstrating the making and use of a deadly explosive, triacetone triperoxide (TATP).
In February 2019, Langhorne began communicating with an undercover employee (UCE) of the FBI who was posing as someone working on behalf of ISIS.
Officials say Langhorne told the UCE about his plans to create and disseminate an instructional video on making TATP and sought the UCE’s assistance in creating the video.
Langhorne informed the UCE that his true purpose in making and distributing the video was to arm ISIS adherents and others with knowledge of how to make TATP and use it for terrorism-related purposes in support of ISIS.
During the summer of 2019, officials say Langhorne sent multiple messages to the UCE for assistance with creating a Nasheed, which is a form of Islamic vocal music.
Langhorne reportedly explained that he wanted the Nasheed “to encourage justified retaliation” against the United States for its role in killing Muslims.
Langhorne was arrested at his residence in Roanoke, Virginia, on November 15, 2019.
Langhorne admitted in a post-arrest interview that he had “probably at some point” pledged allegiance to both ISIS and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was the leader of ISIS from 2014 until his death on October 26, 2019.