(CN) - An Ohio man admitted to accusations that he supported ISIL online and tried to recruit others to join the cause, the Justice Department said.
Amir Said Rahman Al-Ghazi, 39, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and two counts of possessing firearms as a felon, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Al-Ghazi used to be named Robert C. McCollum, but he changed his name last year after pledging his support to ISIL on social media in 2014, prosecutors say.
He tried to persuade others to join ISIL from July 2014 through the following summer, and "expressed his own desire to perpetrate an attack on the United States," the government alleges.
The Sheffield Lake, Ohio, resident also allegedly tried to buy an AK-47, communicated with people he believed to be members of ISIL in the Middle East, and tried to make propaganda videos for the U.S.-designated terrorist group.
Al-Ghazi, who was arrested in North Olmstead last June, will be sentenced on June 23.
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