Gonzales County was the site of the first skirmish of the Texas Revolution, and its residents maintained that pride almost 200 years later. The county seat still displays the “Come and Take It” flag similar to one flown by the Texans who fought for state independence.
So when the FBI arrested resident Jaylyn Christopher Molina, 22, in September on charges of conspiring to provide material support to the ISIS terrorist organization, it seemed incredible to some that a young man who supported then President Donald Trump and his “America The First ”Credo was online with other ISIS supporters, discussing plans to attack the White House, the Trump Tower and other US landmarks.
“How the hell did he get involved in something like that?” said Randall Sutton, owner of the mobile home in the city of Cost that the FBI broke into when they arrested Molina. “I think he just came in with the wrong people.”
Molina pleaded guilty in January to conspiring to provide material support to ISIS and to receiving child pornography, a count that was added after agents found images on his cell phone.
He faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each charge in his sentence, scheduled for next month.
It is the first ISIS-related criminal case in the federal judicial district of San Antonio.
Court records show that he was being recruited as an ISIS agent by Kristopher Sean Matthews, 34, of South Carolina, who held chat sessions with at least 20 other alleged ISIS supporters on encrypted online platforms on which the FBI had infiltrated.
Interviews and a review of Molina’s public records and social media accounts indicate that his disenchantment and the need to belong led him to extremism. Raised in the Pentecostal faith, he spent most of his life in the Gonzales area, about 75 miles east of San Antonio. He tried to embrace the Catholic faith on the part of his father, but he was not strong, said his mother, Misty Rhoades.
“He just jumped on whatever accepted him,” said Rhoades.
Rhoades, who described Molina as intelligent and generous, separated from Molina’s father when his son was not yet 2 years old. She said the boy was bullied at school and the teachers were hard on him.
Molina left Gonzales High at the beginning of the last school year in 2016. Rhoades said he did not graduate.
Prior to his federal case, Molina had been arrested at least twice in Gonzales for criminal invasion and possession of synthetic marijuana.
His mother said that Molina had been using drugs intermittently since he was at least 14 years old and that he could not work long because of back problems. She added that he did not have “two dollars to go to the city and buy a soft drink”.
Even so, he adored a daughter, now 3, and would take care of her a few weeks a month. He and his ex-girlfriend share custody of the child, Rhoades said.
“He did not join any Muslim brotherhood,” said Rhoades. “It was all over the internet.”
“He is a hermit,” added Rhoades. “I’m not saying that what he did is not wrong, but he is not that evil monster.”
Promising loyalty
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, is a Sunni jihadist group with a violent ideology that took over key cities in Iraq and Syria and formed a caliphate.
Beginning in 2014, US-led coalitions began a series of air strikes targeting ISIS, as the group expanded into an affiliate network in at least eight other countries, according to the Wilson Center in Washington DC and other think tanks that track extremism.
Its affiliates, supporters and affiliates used social media to recruit followers that included young Americans, some of whom traveled abroad to fight ISIS. With its expanded reach, ISIS carried out terrorist attacks across the borders of its caliphate, targeting the United States and its coalition partners.
In 2015, ISIS terrorists killed 130 people and injured more than 300 in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris. And in June 2016, a sniper who promised to support ISIS killed 49 people and injured more than 50 at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
In 2019, one of its top leaders was killed and more U.S.-led offensives led President Trump to declare that ISIS had been defeated. But court documents in Molina’s case indicate that ISIS, with a new leadership, is looking for a resurgence and still depends on the internet for recruits.
“Think of it as a local gang looking for members,” said Abel Peña, a retired FBI special agent who collected information for the agency in San Antonio. “But it is a slow activation process, talking and evaluating each other, cultivating relationships.”
Unlike a gang structure, which usually has jump-ins to start new members, ISIS uses the internet to find recruits with similar ideas and uses advertising that some of its members are tasked with distributing online.
“It is divided as an organization,” said Peña, who now runs a security consultancy. “You have people in finance, some in the media. You can have an outreach coordinator and recruiters. “
Peña said he was not surprised that ISIS targeted Molina in a conservative rural area, because he is known for recruiting people from all walks of life, often exploiting those who are confused by their lives.
Molina is believed to have converted to Islam in 2019, when he posted quotes from the Quran on a Twitter account alongside animated selfies with his daughter. In another Twitter account with restricted access, his profile photo appears in the foreground of a larger picture of “ISIS” and the group’s black flag.
Molina’s co-defendant Matthews, who pleaded guilty to the terrorism conspiracy charge in November, converted to Islam when he was 15 and has a “jihad” tattoo on his neck, shows his police record.
Matthews admitted in court that he was co-administrator of at least one online encrypted chat group for the ISIS ideology that allowed only selected members, including Molina, to participate.
Matthews could be sentenced in May in San Antonio.
Matthews was attracted by his own use of social media. In November 2019, he posted in a chat group his own video swearing “bayat”, or loyalty, to the newest reported ISIS leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashim al-Quraishi. The FBI was watching. It was not clear when Matthews started using the alias, Ali Jibreel.
Molina, for his part, publicly publicized his move to Islam in Gonzales County because he dressed differently and let his facial hair grow, according to Sutton, his landlord. It was not clear when he started using his pseudonym, Abdur Rahim.
“He ran with a towel on his head,” said Sutton. “He looked like a Taliban.”
‘Netflix worthy’
In April 2020, Matthews asked Molina to offer his own “bayat” to ISIS.
“Thank you ahki (brother), I will do this as soon as possible”, replied Molina.
In late May 2020, Molina uploaded his own video declaring allegiance to al-Quraishi and referring to Matthews as Molina’s “emir”, or chief in America.
Molina then went to work, posting videos of ISIS showing how to train with an AK-47 rifle and other advertisements on social media that offered justifications for the 9/11 terrorist attacks and showed support for ISIS and violent jihad. He identified America as Molina’s enemy, a view he defended in other forums.
According to the court records, Molina told Matthews that he wanted to “go deeper into disclosing what is happening abroad. Exposing kuffar (infidels) and spreading the truth of Islam. “
When Matthews asked if he wanted to be head of a media department, Molina said yes, until he could “go to war”. Molina produced and edited advertising and distributed it on various social media channels, court records show.
He also participated in discussions on bomb making, including in a chat room called “The Real BOOM BOOM Group”. In some chats, instructions for making bombs were shared.
At one point, Matthews warned Molina not to tell anyone that they had bomb-making materials because that “would make the alphabet boys knock on the door” – referring to the FBI.
“Knock on my door that (expletive) will pass,” replied Molina, making the sound of an explosion.
In a chat, the pair discussed Matthews’ disdain for solo jihad and listed potential targets – government buildings and economic centers, the headquarters of the FBI, CIA and DEA. They agreed that maximum casualties were better, with small teams carrying out coordinated attacks.
“I would be willing to do that … let’s face it, if (sic) jihadists … not normal Muslims,” said Matthews. “This is real, it is not a joke.”
Matthews advised against attacks on places like shopping malls, “where innocent children are.” Instead, he said the targets should be government centers, the stock market, the Trump Tower in New York or the White House.
Molina discussed setting up traps as part of the plots, which he said could be carried out with “20 or fewer siblings”.
That “would sound like bells if we fulfilled the mission … rock star status, baby,” replied Matthews. “This may be worth Netflix.”
Rhetorical or real?
Some in Gonzales County consider online discussions to be arrogant rhetoric. Sutton did not think Molina was capable of attacking because he was generally quiet. He added: “But you don’t know, it could be a facade”.
Rhoades said: “That thing about attacking the White House, there’s no way. He loves President Trump. As for (the claim) of not liking America, it is not that he does not like America. It’s just that he didn’t understand why we were there bombing and killing people and babies. “
Like Molina, Matthews dropped out of high school and used drugs. His parents were not around and he was raised by his grandmother. He was also a loner and joined a gang, according to public documents analyzed by Express-News.
The National Counterterrorism Center says that those who embrace the ISIS ideology tend to be “individuals deprived of civil rights in search of ideological, religious and personal fulfillment”.
The search for belonging, meaning and / or identity appears to be a crucial motivator for many Americans who embrace the ISIS ideology, according to the center. Matthews and Molina fit those characteristics.
“If I were abroad and I was recruiting, that would be the type of person I would be looking for,” said retired FBI agent Peña. “They are perfect.”
He warned against dismissing it as mere rhetorical arguments of the kind that Molina and Matthews had.
“I think if someone is making threats like that, you should take it very seriously,” said Peña. “You don’t want it to slip away and be the next 9/11.”
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