USA v. Damlarkaya, Kaan Sercan
Houston, TX

Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS)

[SDTX] From August 2017 until his arrest in December 2017, Kaan Sercan Damlarkaya, a U.S. citizen from Houston, Texas, attempted to join and support ISIS, and provided information to other ISIS supporters about the use of machetes, the homemade construction of an automatic weapon and how to build and use explosive materials. As part of his plans to join ISIS overseas, starting in approximately early August 2017, Damlarkaya had numerous online conversations with individuals he believed to be fellow ISIS supporters. During these discussions, he described his intentions to travel overseas to fight for ISIS in Syria or Afghanistan. Damlarkaya added that if he was unsuccessful in joining ISIS overseas, he would conduct an attack on non-Muslims in the United States and that it was his "dream" to be a martyr. He was sentenced to over 13 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to ISIS.