Feds: 11th Somali man in Minn. charged with ISIL support

Thursday August 25, 2016

Militants with the Islamic State group are seen after placing their group's flag on a hilltop at the eastern side of the town of Kobani, Syria, in 2014. (Photo: Lefteris Pitarakis, AP)

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors have brought terrorism charges against an 11th man from the Minneapolis Somali community, alleging that the 20-year-old suspect used proceeds from a legal settlement related to the city's deadly 2007 bridge collapse to ultimately finance his travel to Syria two years ago.

Mohamed Amiin Ali Roble, still believed to be fighting for the Islamic State in Syria, was identified in interviews with other alleged conspirators who have been cooperating with federal investigators.

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According to court documents, Roble began using at least part of a $91,654 settlement from a lawsuit filed in the aftermath of the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse, which left 13 dead and 145 injured, to finance his 2014 travel to Istanbul.

The Turkish capital is a popular gateway for foreign fighters traveling to Syria. And federal prosecutors said Roble, who has since surfaced in photographs from the conflict zone in Syria, has never returned.

Roble's parents initially filed the bridge lawsuit against the state, an engineering firm and the contractor, asserting that their son was one of the 145 injured in the collapse. The family recovered monetary awards from all three defendants, and only 10 days after the money was deposited into Roble's account on the occasion of his 18th birthday, the suspect allegedly began using the funds to finance his travel.

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