Northern Va. teen thought to have helped man join Islamic State

A 17-year-old Northern Virginia high school student who federal authorities believe successfully helped a man make his way to Syria to fight with the Islamic State has been taken into custody, according to the boy’s neighbors and an official familiar with the case.

On Friday, FBI agents raided the Woodbridge townhouse where the teen lives with his family, leading the boy outside with his hands cuffed behind his back, neighbors said. The boy, a student at Prince William County’s Osbourn Park High School, is charged only as a juvenile, but federal prosecutors are navigating the intensive legal process to move the case into adult court, an official said.

Many details of the investigation remain unclear, but the case seems to be yet another instance of a young person living in America and using the Internet to offer tangible help to the Islamic State. Officials familiar with the case, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share details, said investigators believe that the teen helped an adult not much older than himself travel to Syria. The officials said the teen helped arrange the man’s travel, in part by using online contacts that led to the Islamic State overseas.

Experts say such instances could become increasingly common as youths — inspired by well-produced terrorist posts and videos online — can now reach out and forge overseas connections.

“Social media has really been a game-changer,” said Matthew Levitt, director of the Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “If you are drawn to or you are inspired by these things as you watch them in your mama’s basement, you can talk to somebody.”According to neighbors and a man who hired the teen to write for his Web site, the Osbourn Park student was quiet in person but exceptionally intelligent — authoring articles on complicated science and technology topics.

Dustin O’Bryant, who gave the teen a paying gig writing for his digital currency news Web site, said the boy was a “great writer” who “had a really strong understanding of the technology behind digital currency in general and even more advanced systems.” O’Bryant said he hired the teen on the spot after reading a chemistry research paper the boy wrote.