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Wheeler soldier Kang indicted for allegedly providing aid to ISIS

COURTESY U.S. ATTORNEY/FBI COURT FILINGS

Video screenshots submitted as evidence of Ikaika Kang allegedly pledging allegiance to ISIS by kissing the lslamic State Flag and putting it up to his forehead.

Federal prosecutors filed a grand jury indictment today charging Wheeler Army Airfield soldier Ikaika Erik Kang with trying to provide support to the Islamic State or ISIS.

The indictment charges Kang, 34, with four counts of attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Two of the counts accuse Kang of trying to provide ISIS with military documents, some classified. The third count accuses Kang of trying to provide ISIS with military gear, including tactical equipment and ammunition, and a GoPro Karma, a consumer camera-equipped drone. The fourth count accuses Kang of trying to provide ISIS with a training video of weaponry, firearms, combatives and hand-to-hand combat techniques.

The FBI has said it had been monitoring Kang’s activities for the past year. The agency said Kang dealt only with undercover agents and that he never made contact with anyone connected with ISIS.

Kang’s arraignment on the charges is scheduled for Monday afternoon. He remains in custody at the Federal Detention Center with no opportunity for release on bail or bond.

Monday afternoon was when Kang was supposed to have been afforded the opportunity to hear the government present its evidence against him in a preliminary hearing for a judge to make a probable cause determination. But that would have given his lawyer the opportunity to question the government’s witnesses.

A trial attorney from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section arrived from Washington D.C. last week to prosecute the case.

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