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Leon Nathan Davis, Convicted Cocaine Trafficker, Tried to Join ISIS

Leon Nathan Davis had a family and a sales job — and says he left them behind last fall with a one-way ticket overseas and a plan to join ISIS.
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/ Source: The Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Leon Nathan Davis had a family and a sales job — and says he left them behind last fall with a one-way ticket overseas and a plan to join ISIS.

The 37-year-old Augusta, Georgia, man pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to a charge of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization. Davis faces up to 15 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when a judge sentences him at a later date.

During his 30-minute plea hearing, Davis told a judge he bought a one-way ticket to fly from Atlanta to Turkey last October.

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"I was to be smuggled into Syria and at that point in time join ISIS," said Davis, a stocky, pale man with a shaved head.

What isn't clear is why. Davis never spoke about his motivations in court, and the judge never asked about them. But Davis did mention that he married within the past two years and has a stepdaughter. Before his arrest Oct. 24 while checking in for his flight at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Davis said, he worked as a salesman for a company that sells mail-order medical supplements.

Davis' defense attorney, Michael Loebl, declined to comment further after the plea hearing, as did prosecutors.

Charging documents say Davis is also known by the names Abdul Wakil Khalil and Abu Hurairah Al Amreekee. Georgia Department of Corrections records show he was imprisoned in October 2005 after being sentenced to 10 years for cocaine trafficking. He was released in September 2008, but returned to prison for more than a year starting in February 2012.

Federal authorities began watching Davis more than a year ago after he tried to contact ISIS members through social media, FBI agent Gutis Zunde testified.

Zunde said Davis later told investigators he expected to teach English to other ISIS members once he reached Syria. "He said he wasn't sure if he would be a fighter or possibly a recruiter for them," Zunde added.

- The Associated Press