Man caught in sting trying to join IS gets 8.5 years
ALEXANDRIA—As a kid, he went by the name “Jersey Joe,” identifying more with mob movies and culture than his father’s Iranian heritage. As a young adult, he abused drugs but still was not particularly religious.
Then came a sudden and steep radicalization that led “Jersey Joe” Farrokh to try to join the Islamic State as a soldier in Syria. On Friday, Farrokh, 29, of Woodbridge, was sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison for attempting to support a terrorist group.
Farrokh was arrested in January at the Richmond airport, where he intended to begin a trip to Jordan and eventually Syria. He bought his tickets out of Richmond because he believed his travel plans would face less scrutiny at a smaller airport.
He had discussed his plans with people he thought were Islamic State facilitators but who were actually informants on a government sting operation.
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