(ABC NEWS PHOTO)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Noor Salman, 30, formerly of Fort Pierce, Florida, was charged by indictment with aiding and abetting Omar Mateen’s attempted provision and provision of material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a designated foreign terrorist organization, and obstruction of justice. If convicted on all counts, Salman faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord and U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.
Salman was arrested in northern California on Monday, January 16, and made her initial appearance in federal court in Oakland, California earlier today. Salman was temporarily detained pending a status hearing on Wednesday, January 18.
According to the indictment, from no later than end of April 2016 through and including June 12, 2016, Salman aided and abetted Mateen’s attempted provision and provision of material support, namely, personnel and services, to ISIL, and the death of multiple victims resulted. Further, on June 12, 2016, Salman obstructed justice by engaging in misleading conduct towards officers of the Fort Pierce Police Department and special agents of the FBI in order to prevent them from communicating to agents, the U.S. Department of Justice and judges of the United States of America, information relating to the attack at the Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida. Forty-nine people were killed in the attack and dozens more hurt; Mateen allegedly laughed as he slaughtered people in the club that he was rumored to frequent.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has violated one or more federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the FBI; the Orlando Police Department; the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in Florida; the Fort Pierce Police Department; the Saint Lucie County Sheriff’s Office in Florida; and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Assistance was provided by the IRS – Criminal Investigation division; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Martin County Sheriff’s Office in Florida; and the Sebastian Police Department in Florida. This case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara C. Sweeney, James D. Mandolfo and Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Kevin C. Nunnally for the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
