Federal Gun and Drug Charges Added to Indictment Accusing Suburban Chicago Man of Attempting to Support ISIS

A newly filed federal indictment adds firearm and drug charges against a suburban Chicago man accused of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, also known as ISIS.

JASON BROWN, also known as “Abdul Ja’ Me” and “Matthew Dobbs,” was originally charged in 2019 with attempting on three separate occasions to provide $500 in cash to ISIS, knowing that the group was engaging in terrorist activity.  A superseding indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago alleges that Brown illegally possessed four loaded handguns in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime that included distributing methamphetamines.  The superseding indictment also accuses Brown of distributing fentanyl and conspiring to possess marijuana plants with the intent to distribute.

Brown, 38, of Lombard, Ill., has been in law enforcement custody since his arrest in 2019.  He pleaded not guilty to the new charges during arraignment today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sunil R. Harjani.

The superseding indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the U.S. Department of Justice; Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; Tamera Cantu, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago; and David Brown, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department.  Substantial assistance was provided by the Illinois State Police, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, Lombard (Ill.) Police Department, and Addison (Ill.) Police Department.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shoba Pillay, Sean Driscoll and Nicholas Eichenseer of the Northern District of Illinois, with support from the National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section.

The public is reminded that charges contain only accusations and are not evidence of guilt.  If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal sentencing statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

The charges in the superseding indictment and the maximum sentence for each count are as follows:  Three counts of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization (20 years); one count of drug conspiracy involving the possession of marijuana plants (life in prison, and a minimum sentence of ten years); one count of distribution of a controlled substance involving fentanyl (life in prison, and a minimum sentence of ten years); one count of distribution of a controlled substance involving marijuana (30 years); one count of possession of methamphetamines with intent to distribute (life in prison, and a minimum sentence of 15 years); one count of illegal possession of a firearm as a convicted felon (ten years); and one count of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime (life in prison, and a minimum sentence of five years).