A Pennsylvania man who served briefly in the US Army is facing charges of trying to join the terrorist group Hezbollah in an effort to “kill Jews,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, was indicted by a grand jury in Pittsburgh on Thursday for allegedly traveling to Lebanon and Syria last year to join an Iran-backed group despite knowing it was a US-designated terrorist organization.
According to the affidavit, Molloy, an American and Irish citizen who served in the Army, tried to join the terrorist organization several times.
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Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, was indicted by a grand jury on charges of attempting to support the foreign terrorist organization Hezbollah and making false statements involving international terrorism to a department or agency of the United States. (Department of Justice)
The DOJ said the 24-year-old converted to Islam in 2024.
After his conversion, he contacted Lebanese people while in the country in August 2024 about becoming a Hezbollah fighter, the DOJ said. The contacts replied that the time was not available and you would need to take other steps.
Molloy went to Syria in October 2024 and tried to rejoin. On his flight back to the US, the DOJ said, he lied to FBI agents at Pittsburgh International Airport when he said he had no intention of joining Hezbollah, that he had no job in Syria and had never met anyone there.
When he returned to the country, he continued his efforts to join the organization, according to the DOJ.
Hezbollah terrorists train in South Lebanon near the Israeli border. (AP/Hassan Ammar)
Authorities say Molloy expressed hatred and incited violence against Jewish people on social media.
The affidavit reviewed by Fox News Digital said Molloy posted negative sentiments on social media.
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Court documents also revealed that he told a family member that his “main strategy was to join Hezbollah and kill Jews.”
Jack Danaher Molloy faces a maximum sentence of 28 years in prison. (Department of Justice)
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When Molloy lived in Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, the DOJ said, allegedly visited a website detailing the possible whereabouts of Robert Bowers, who shot dead 11 Jews at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue.
If convicted, Molloy faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the material support charge. For false statement charges, he faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both.