Feds charge Garden Grove man with ties to Al Qaeda, terrorism

A Garden Grove man was charged Friday with trying to support Al Qaeda and making false statements on his passport, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Sinh Vinh Ngo Nguyen, also known as Hasan Abu Omar Ghannoum, was scheduled to appear Friday afternoon in Santa Ana federal court. He was detained at 7:30 a.m. Friday at a bus station in Orange County while headed to Mexico, officials said.

He is charged in a federal indictment Friday with knowingly attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group. He also is accused of lying on a passport application Aug. 23, making false statements about his name, his date of birth, his place of birth and other information.

Prosecutors allege he made the false application “to facilitate an act of international terrorism.”

Sources said Nguyen had become “radicalized” and sympathized with the terrorist group’s cause and wanted to become a foot soldier for the group.

Nguyen is not the first Orange County link to the group. Adam Gadahn, who once lived as Adam Pearlman, is a prominent translator and spokesman for the group and has been charged in his absence with treason. A relative of Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard was located in Tustin in 2009.

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