Mideast Syria Timeline

An undated file image posted on a militant website shows fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant marching in Raqqa, Syria. A military veteran from New Jersey has been charged with trying to join the terror group after traveling to Turkey earlier this year.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — He was an Air Force veteran from New Jersey who later found work as an Army contractor for a security firm working in Iraq.

Today, federal authorities unsealed an indictment charging Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, whose last known address was in Neptune, N.J., with attempting to join the terror group ISIS—just weeks after being fired from his job as an aircraft mechanic in Kuwait.

Pugh, 47, was arrested in Asbury Park, N.J., in January and remains in custody. He is due in federal court in Brooklyn tomorrow morning to face arraignment.

Prosecutors said Pugh traveled from Egypt to Turkey on January 10 in an effort to cross the border into Syria to join ISIS and "fight violent jihad." When challenged by Turkish authorities, the FBI said Pugh claimed to be a pilot with the United States Special Forces and told them he was traveling to Turkey for vacation. Turkish authorities denied him entry, and sent him on a return flight back to Egypt—where he was soon deported back to the United States.

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force took him into custody on January 16, a day after his arrival back in New Jersey.

"Born and raised in the United States, Pugh allegedly turned his back on his country and attempted to travel to Syria in order to join a terrorist organization," said U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch in Brooklyn's Eastern District.

Following the filing of a criminal complaint in January, a federal grand jury in Brooklyn this week returned a two-count indictment charging Pugh with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and obstruction and attempted obstruction of justice.

According to court filings, Pugh served in the Air Force from 1986 to 1990 as an avionics instrument system specialist and received training in the installation and maintenance of aircraft engine, navigation, and weapons systems.

In an FBI affidavit, Pugh was said to have moved to San Antonio, Tx., after leaving the Air Force and converted to Islam in 1998, where he became increasingly radical in his beliefs."

He worked for a number of companies in the United States and Middle East as an avionics specialist and airplane mechanic, living overseas for more than a year in Egypt, Dubai and Jordan before his arrest. The court filings said he still has family and children in this country. Public records indicate he was divorced in South Carolina in 2004 and had at least one child.

Federal Aviation Administration records show Pugh is a certified aircraft mechanic in airframe and power plant repair. His license lists an address in Bridgeton in South Jersey.

The FBI had investigated Pugh in the past. In its affidavit, the bureau said it received a tip from a former co-worker at American Airlines that Pugh expressed sympathy for Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks. Interviews with others who knew Pugh told the FBI he had expressed interest in traveling to Chechnya "to fight jihad."

The affidavit also revealed Pugh later became an Army contractor for DynCorp. in Iraq, one of the State Department's main contractors overseas.

The filings said Pugh had been carrying multiple electronic devices, including four USB thumb drives stripped of their plastic casings and an iPod wiped clean of data.

"It appeared that Pugh had purposefully tampered with the electronic devices to prevent anyone from accessing his electronic media," the FBI said.

A search of his water-damaged laptop computer revealed internet searches for "borders controlled by Islamic state," references to Syrian cities near the Turkish border under the control of ISIS, and a chart of crossing points between Turkey and Syria. There were also a number of videos downloaded from the internet, including one showing ISIS members executing prisoners.

A letter purporting to be to his wife in Egypt, Misha, was also recovered from the laptop. "I am a Mujahid. I am a sword against the oppressor and a shield for the oppressed. I will use the talents and skills given to me by Allah to establish and defend the Islamic States," he wrote. "I will send for you when it is safe."

When told he was to be deported to the United States, the FBI said he expressed the view that he preferred to be sent anywhere but the United States because in his view, "The U.S. doesn't like black Muslims."

Shortly after his arrival at Kennedy International Airport on January 15, the FBI said he struck up a conversation with a government agent, telling him "he should have shaved his beard and changed into pants before trying to enter Turkey so as to avoid drawing attention," the affidavit said.

If convicted, Pugh faces a maximum sentence of 35 years in prison.

The arrest mirrors a similar case in 2010, when two New Jersey men were arrested as they boarded flights to link up with a virulent jihadist group in Somalia. The men, Mohamed Mahmood Alessa, 20, of North Bergen, and Carlos Eduardo "Omar" Almonte, 24, of Elmwood Park, were charged with conspiring to commit an act of international terrorism through a group tied to al Qaeda.

Both are now in prison.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.