A Chicago man has been arrested on a federal complaint charging him with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Thomas Osadzinski, 20, was arrested Monday in Chicago. A criminal complaint charges him with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization. Osadzinski appeared in court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole in Chicago and was ordered held without bond. A detention hearing was scheduled for Nov. 22.
Osadzinski is a U.S. citizen who resides in Chicago. The complaint alleges that Osadzinski designed a process that uses a computer script to make ISIS propaganda more conveniently accessed and disseminated by users on a social media platform. Osadzinski earlier this year shared his script – and instructions for how to use it – with individuals whom he believed to be ISIS supporters and members of pro-ISIS media organizations, the complaint states. Unbeknownst to Osadzinski, the individuals were actually covert FBI employees and a person confidentially working with law enforcement, according to the complaint.
ISIS and its supporters disseminate the terror group’s propaganda materials online to as wide an audience as possible in order to recruit fighters and inspire violence against the United States and other countries. Social media platforms routinely remove ISIS media content due to the violent nature of the materials. According to the complaint, Osadzinski’s computer process would automatically copy and preserve ISIS media postings in an organized format, allowing social media users to continue to conveniently access and disseminate the content.