Upper St. Clair man charged with lying to FBI about involvement with terrorist group

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — An Upper St. Clair man has been charged with lying to FBI agents about his desire to join a terrorist organization, federal prosecutors announced on Monday. 

Twenty-four-year-old Jack Molloy was charged with making a false statement or representation involving international terrorism to a department or agency of the United States, U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan announced. 

Prosecutors said Molloy lied to FBI agents at the Pittsburgh International Airport on Oct. 20 when he told them that he had no plans to become involved with the terrorist organization Hizballah, sometimes spelled Hezbollah, and that he had no business in Syria nor was he meeting anyone there. But authorities said Molloy had traveled to Syria to further his attempts to join Hizballah. 

According to court paperwork, Molloy had traveled to Lebanon earlier in the year to try and join Hizballah, but he was unable to. He then traveled from Lebanon to Syria in October to try and contact the Syrian branch of Hizballah, investigators said. 

"The affidavit further alleges that Molloy also supported and idolized violence and wanted to kill Jews, as evidenced by multiple images and videos on his electronic devices and the names he chose as his monikers for his social media and email accounts," the U.S. attorney's office wrote in a press release. 

Molloy then came back to Upper St. Clair, where prosecutors said he continued to "engage in conduct consistent with his desire to join Hizballah." 

Molloy could face up to eight years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both, prosecutors said.