A former University of Pittsburgh student described as an Islamic extremist has been charged with threatening and surveilling Pittsburgh FBI agents who were investigating him.
A criminal complaint filed Wednesday charges Khaled Miah, 27, with interstate threatening communications, influencing a federal officer by threat and destruction of records in a federal investigation.
Mr. Miah is scheduled for a detention hearing Friday in U.S. District Court.
According to an affidavit, Mr. Miah posted threats on Dec. 27 directed at agents and at the FBI in general.
Earlier in the month, the FBI had identified a Twitter account that Mr. Miah had created. From the date of its creation to Jan. 1, Mr. Miah used the account to harass FBI Pittsburgh agents, prosecutors said. After posting the threats, Mr. Miah deleted the posts knowing he was being investigated, the U.S. attorney's office said.
The complaint also alleges that he had repeatedly conducted surveillance on an agent's home after the FBI questioned him about extremist views.
“Khaled Miah’s use of multiple Twitter accounts to threaten and harass federal law enforcement officers and their family members and to obstruct a federal investigation are clear violations of federal law,” said U.S. Attorney Scott Brady in a statement Thursday announcing the charges.
Among other online behavior, agents said that Mr. Miah had tweeted that the "zero hour is approaching" along with another tweet showing coordinates for the FBI's headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Miah is described in the complaint as "mentally unstable and attracted to a violent Islamic ideology."
Agents said he praised the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, discussed armed insurrection and visited a Pittsburgh shooting range in the summer.
The complaint also says that the FBI uncovered hundreds of videos, images and documents dating back several years related to extremist content that "advocated for and/or glorified gruesome violence against perceived ideological enemies."
The FBI said Mr. Miah also traveled to Washington, D.C., and was observed on at least 11 occasions in the vicinity of the Pittsburgh FBI building between Nov. 1, 2020, and Jan. 3, 2021.
After searching Mr. Miah's electronic devices, the FBI found that he idealized the Boston Marathon bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and visited several landmarks in Massachusetts associated with the bombings. Those included the location of the bombings, the scene of the shootout between the brothers and police and even a gym where Tamerlan trained in martial arts.
Miah is a native of Bangladesh and came to the U.S. with his family in 2003. He became a U.S. citizen in 2009, according to the FBI.
Mr. Miah was enrolled at Pitt until December 2020 and has lived at a house near the campus, the FBI said, although he maintained a mailing address at his mother's residence.
First Published: January 7, 2021, 6:22 p.m.
