(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The FBI arrested last week a 21-year-old alleged terrorist for trying to fight with ISIS in Africa.
But the criminal complaint filed against the alleged terrorist, Michael Sam Teekaye Jr., reveal that he’s a severely mentally ill person who’s been talking to an undercover FBI agent since he was 16.
According to the Oct. 15 criminal complaint, Teekaye came on the FBI’s radar shortly after September 2019, when he “admitted he wanted to cut the head off of [a fellow student] and kill him.” Teekaye was subject to an emergency mental health petition at the time.
The FBI learned of Teekaye about three months later, when agents learned that he was “expressing extremist Islamist ideology” online.
“Shortly thereafter, TEEKAYE began interacting with a male Online Covert Employee (“OCE”),” the criminal complaint said.
In January 2020, the FBI spoke with Teekaye’s parents and searched his laptop. Teekaye was then subject of another emergency petition and was hospitalized at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington. FBI agents interviewed him again a month later—he’s still only 16 at the time—and he told him he wanted “to go overseas as a fighter had waned, and he felt he was being used by people online,” the complaint said.
Last week, the FBI arrested a schizophrenic 21-year-old who had been communicating with an undercover agent since he was 16.
It sure looks like an undercover agent was trying to bait him into a plot against Israelis. The defendant even accuses the undercover of “talking like you… pic.twitter.com/mqzDUv3eEY— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 22, 2024
“He also said that because the FBI was watching him, he would not have a chance to pursue efforts to fight overseas,” the complaint added.
Teekaye’s since been diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia and a slew of other disorders.
Fast forward more than two years, and Teekaye was arrested for brandishing a knife outside of a school. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, and was given Probation Before Judgment and placed on supervised probation until September 2025.
In March 2023, Teekaye again communicated with an undercover agent online about Islamic terrorism. In these conversations, he started mulling the idea of joining an ISIS affiliate in Africa, according to the criminal complaint.
“In WhatsApp conversations with the UCO on April 12-13, 2023, TEEKAYE clarified that ‘plan A’ is to go overseas, specifically West Africa, to conduct an attack. TEEKAYE stated that ‘plan B’ is to conduct an attack in the U.S., but it is ‘too risky anyways,’” the complaint said.
It appears as though the undercover agent was a female luring him with promises of a romantic relationship, and baiting him into a potential attack on Israelis. The two discussed marriage repeatedly, according to the FBI complaint, and at one point Teekaye accused the agent of “talking like you want to do an attack with me” when they were discussing Israel.
By early October of this year, Teekaye had obtained a visa and a plane ticket to travel to Turkey.
“On October 14, 2024, FBI agents observed TEEKAYE travel to BWI airport in a rideshare vehicle, check in for flight BA 228 bound for London, and proceed through the security checkpoint. TEEKAYE was arrested at approximately 5:59PM,” the complaint said.
“After being advised of his Miranda rights, TEEKAYE made the following unprovoked statements, among others: ‘I’ll just get out in 20 years and do something here. Okay? Okay? You will never stop me. Jihad will never stop,’” the complaint added.
“While making these statements, TEEKAYE began kicking one of the FBI arresting agents. He then stated that he hoped to ‘kill a guard’ while in prison.”
Teekaye had an initial appearance in Maryland federal court on Monday.
Teen Terrorism Stings
His arrest marked at least the sixth teenager arrested by the FBI over the last year-plus in highly dubious terrorism stings.
An FBI informant stalked a teenager into his father's office, offered to take him to lunch, gave him an ISIS flag and took a photo of the teen in front of the flag.
This case marks at least the 5th teen targeted by the FBI since last July.
🧵https://t.co/pCfoGfX72J— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 9, 2024
In July 2023, then-18-year-old Davin Meyer was arrested as he was about to board an international flight—also out of Denver—allegedly to travel to the Middle East and fight for ISIS. Meyer’s mother, who originally approached law enforcement out of concern for her son, said that the FBI entrapped the boy.
Before Meyer was arrested in July 2023, the FBI announced in June that it arrested 18-year-old Mateo Ventura for intending to support ISIS. However, Ventura’s father, has also accused the FBI of entrapping his son.
Along with Meyer and Ventura, the FBI arrested a 17-year-old boy in August 2023 for supposedly plotting to carry out an ISIS-inspired terrorist attack on American soil.
More recently, the FBI arrested a teenager in December who was supposedly on his way from Denver to fight for ISIS in the Middle East. But like the others, the details of that case show that the teenager, 18-year-old Humzah Mashkoor, was targeted online since he was 16 by at least four undercover FBI agents. And moreover, Mashkoor suffers from mental illness and has high-functioning autism, according to his family.
And most recently, the FBI arrested 18-year-old Alexander Scott Mercurio in April on terrorism charges after targeting him for years in an investigation that involved at least three undercover informants and an undercover agent.
