CLEVELAND, Ohio – An Ohio man was arrested on Friday after federal authorities said he planned to carryout a mass shooting at a Toledo-area Jewish synagogue in the name of ISIS.

Damon Joseph, 21, of Holland, Ohio pledged allegiance to the terrorist group after consuming the terrorist’s organization online propaganda, and radicalized over a period of months to wanting to carry out a mass-killing, FBI Acting Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jeff Fortunato said.

FBI agents and federal prosecutors announced Joseph’s arrest at a Monday news conference in Toledo. Joseph was scheduled to appear before a judge there Monday afternoon.

They refused to name the synagogue that Joseph expressed interest in attacking.

Officials stopped short of saying that Joseph was motivated by October’s deadly attack at a Pittsburgh synagogue or planned to carryout a copy-cat style attack. Joseph praised the shooter in that attack, but he also expressed hatred for gays, Catholics and Christians, Fortunato said.

U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman said Joseph’s planned attack, which came during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, represented an assault on the country’s shared values of freedom to worship freely, and to choose who to love, without fear of intimidation.

Joseph’s arrest ensures that “those values are protected, and they will endure," Herdman said.

The Anti-Defamation League, a national nonprofit devoted to fighting anti-Semitism, praised Joseph’s arrest in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

“We are tremendously grateful to federal and local law enforcement for apprehending the suspect, and for working so diligently to prevent our community from experiencing another horrific terrorist attack,” the Regional Director of the organization’s Cleveland branch, Jeremy Pappas, said. “The Jewish community is still grieving following the October attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and it’s shocking to hear another attack was being planned.”

Joseph converted to Islam and went by the name Abdullah Ali Yusef, according to officials. He began sharing photographs of guns and knives on social media, as well as videos produced by the media arm of the terrorist organization, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Toledo.

Undercover agents reached out to Joseph after his postings, the affidavit says. He told them that he supported ISIS and in September, Joesph sent the agents videos that he made and hoped would be used to recruit new members to ISIS, the affidavit says.

The videos included statements such as “would you die for your religion and your lord,” and “blood has to be spilled for progress to be made,” according to the affidavit.

Days after the Oct. 27 shooting in Pittsburgh which killed 11 worshipers at Tree of Life, Joseph told the undercover agents that he admired the shooter and said he could see himself carrying out a similar attack, because authorities in Northwest Ohio “wouldn’t even expect” an attack, the affidavit says.

Joseph said he planned to escape after the attack, not die in martyrdom. He narrowed the target of his attack down to two area synagogues and said he would choose based on the number of worshippers, the affidavit said.

“Go big or go home,” Joseph said, according to the affidavit.

The undercover agent met with Joseph last week, the affidavit said. Joseph, who officials said had no weapons, requested rifles including an AR-15 and AK-47, as well as pistols and ammunition, the affidavit said.

Joseph wrote on Thursday that he picked a synagogue and researched the Jewish sabbath to find when the most people would be at the temple, the affidavit said.

He also looked at photographs of the inside of the synagogue and said he planned to begin his attack inside the sanctuary, the affidavit said.

The agent and Joseph agreed to meet on Friday and, when Joseph showed up with a large duffel bag to conceal the rifles, authorities arrested him.

Federal officials at Monday’s news conference also announced the Saturday arrest of Elizabeth Lecron, a 23-year-old Toledo woman who is accused of purchasing gun powder to use in a domestic terror attack. Investigators said Lecron, a self-avowed anarchist who idolized several mass murderers, believed the gunpowder would be used in pipe bombs to blow up a pipeline in Georgia, Fortunato said at the news conference.

Both of Ohio’s U.S. Senators -- Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman -- as well as U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, released statements praising law enforcement agencies following the announcement of the arrests Monday.

“After the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh and other recent anti-Semitic actions, we understand the pain and worry that many in this community are feeling,” Latta said in his statement. "Anti-Semitism has no place in our country, and we will stand firm in our resolve to prevent hateful attacks. We must stay vigilant.”

Portman called said the thwarted plots were attacks on the country’s values.

“As I’ve said many times, there is no place for hatred, antisemitism, bigotry, threats, or attacks of any kind on our fellow citizens, and we must all work together to live up to our values of tolerance and respect for others,” Portman said.

Brown said he was proud of the work law enforcement did to thwart “these terrible tragedies.”

“We join the Jewish community, and all of northwest Ohio today in standing together against hate and violence of any kind,” Brown said.

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