Feds: Fayetteville man recruited for ISIS

In sealed documents released Wednesday, federal agents say 43-year-old Houcine Becher Ghoul pledged support for terrorist acts, even claiming that he recruited new members for Islamic State forces.

A criminal complaint filed on July 27 charges Ghoul with attempted unlawful procurement of citizenship or naturalization and filing a false tax return. He is now being held in the Franklin County jail.

The complaint shows that the FBI began investigating Ghoul in 2014 after a Facebook post on an account associated with his name indicated support of terrorism.

Investigators continued to track his social media accounts, one of which included a photo of a man in a convenience store holding a handmade sign that reads "The American support for the Islamic State" in Arabic. Below it, in English, it says, "ISIS, North Carolina USA." That same photo later appeared in a propaganda video released on an ISIS YouTube channel.

​The FBI confirmed that Ghoul worked at the Snack Attack Convenience Store on Bragg Boulevard in Fayetteville. Agents were able to locate the man in the photo and interviewed him, which prompted surveillance on Ghoul.

Using various sources, investigators documented several instances when Ghoul justified ISIS terrorist actions.

On Feb. 6, 2015, Ghoul justified actions by ISIS when a Jordanian pilot was caught and burned alive because the pilot was an "apostate". He described the video as "awesome, magnificent!"

In later conversations, Ghoul said, "I support the Islamic State. I support anything the Islamic State does…body and soul."

He goes on to call jihad an obligation and supports the organization's killing and terror. Later, Ghoul indicates support for a fatal terrorism-related shooting in Chattanooga, Tenn., and a truck attack in Nice, France, stating on Twitter, "do not grieve the murder of infidels."

Agents also went through Ghoul's many Twitter accounts, which have since been deactivated. On one of his pages, Ghoul described himself as an "extremist, terrorist, tough, brain-washed, radical, I love explosions, booby trapping, beheading the enemy."

WRAL Investigates searched for conversations using Ghoul's Twitter names - most were in Arabic. When translated, some supported Ghoul's views, but there are also a number of responses that accuse Ghoul of being misguided about Islam.

Prosecutors say he married several women to obtain citizenship and lied on official forms that he had no connections to terrorist organizations.

There's no indication that Ghoul has planned, or is planning, any terrorist acts.

Customers at the Snack Attack were stunned by the revelations. The manager of the store, who did not want to be identified, said Ghoul was fired in 2015.