WATERVILLE, Maine — A 19-year-old Waterville man charged in connection with an alleged plot to blow up a Chicago-area mosque now faces an additional charge.
Xavier Pelkey was originally indicted April 15, 2022, on one count of possession of unregistered destructive devices. He pleaded not guilty and was returned to federal custody.
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted Pelkey on an additional count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee said in a release.
Prosecutors say that between November 2021 and February 2022, Pelkey conspired with teens in the Chicago area and Kentucky to conduct the attack.
During a search warrant executed at Pelkey's Waterville apartment on Feb. 11, 2022, FBI agents allegedly found three homemade explosive devices in his backpack.
Agents in Chicago conducted a search warrant on Feb. 5, 2022 at the home of a 15-year-old boy and determined that he had conspired with two others, one named "Abdullah," to meet in Chicago and conduct the attack, according to court documents.
The boy said the three, who communicated on Instagram, planned to enter an unidentified Shis Muslim mosque in the Chicago area in late March, separate the adults from the children, and then kill the adults. If they weren't stopped by law enforcement, they planned to continue to another Shia mosque or a Jewish synagogue, agents said.
They had no plan to escape and planned to be shot by police, according to documents.
The boy in Chicago allegedly said "Abdullah" was responsible for acquiring additional firearms and ammunition and told the boy he had built an explosive device to "get more people."
A 17-year-old Kentucky boy allegedly told agents that "Abdullah" told him he wanted Allah to grant him shaheed, and he wanted to die while fighting for Allah.
The IP addresses for the Instagram account were traced to Pelkey's apartment on Front Street in Waterville, according to court documents, and he allegedly admitted to agents he was the owner of the account.
Agents allegedly found three homemade explosive devices in a backpack in Pelkey's bedroom and two hand-painted ISIS flags, one on his bedroom wall.
The devices were made of fireworks bundled together with staples, pins, and thumb tacks to create shrapnel if detonated, an FBI agent wrote.
If convicted, Pelkey faces 15 years in prison on the first count and 10 years in prison on the second.