Joshua Robles, center, who is facing terrorism-related charges, appears in court during a hearing at the Regional Justice Center, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
(Tribune News Service) — Court documents allege that a teenager indicted by a grand jury on terrorism and incendiary device charges intended to target Gov. Joe Lombardo and President Joe Biden, had an ISIS execution video on his phone and claimed to be a member of ISIS.
Joshua Robles, 17, was indicted in August by a Clark County grand jury on terrorism and incendiary device charges. He has pleaded not guilty.
Robles told police sent a message about beginning “operations” against enemies of Allah in Las Vegas into a chat room used by supporters of the Islamic State group, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report. Police said they found items that could be used to make an explosive device in his bedroom.
His bail has been set at $1 million. Robles’ attorneys have filed a motion asking for bail to be reset to $10,000, with release conditions including no computer access. Prosecutors want that motion to be denied.
District Judge Erika Ballou is scheduled to hold a bail hearing for Robles on Wednesday.
Robles told police he did not intend to carry out an attack, but prosecutors said his actions indicated otherwise.
“By the end of November, (Robles) took steps towards actual violence,” Deputy District Attorney Tanner Sharp wrote in a prosecution motion. “(He) began dressing as an ISIS soldier, with a knife and flag. He collected explosive components to make pipe bombs. He began to name specific targets, including Governor Lombardo and President Biden.”
Robles was in a chatroom with ISIS supporters, according to court documents filed by the prosecution. A video on his phone showed ISIS members suspend men over a fire, burning them to death, prosecutors alleged, and a second video depicted ISIS militants executing prisoners.
“(Robles) told detectives that he liked these videos and that it made him feel powerful and different to have other people view him as Muslim and a terrorist,” Sharp said.
Robles’ phone also contained the names of ISIS leaders, instructions on bomb-making, and a poem entitled “When the Jew’s blood reds my knife,” Sharp alleged.
PDF files on his phone included an essay about when it’s acceptable to kill women and children, according to prosecutors, and a treatise on taking slave girls as prostitutes.
Robles claims to be a member of ISIS, the prosecution said, and because of his religious fervor, “release conditions will have no effect on him. If he is willing to die for his cause, he will not care what this Court orders.”
Prosecutors also said this is not the first time Robles has threatened violence.
In 2020, he was suspended from Cannon Middle School following staff and student reports that he threatened a school shooting, the prosecution motion said.
Before Robles was indicted by a grand jury, his bail was set at $10,000 by Justice Court Judge Pro Tem Lauren Diefenbach, with high-level electronic monitoring and an order not to have computer access if released, according to court documents.
But Sheriff Kevin McMahill filed a notice, stating that he would not release Robles on electronic monitoring because of his dangerousness.
“Defendant is a radicalized Islamic terrorist and the Sheriff has concluded that releasing him under any circumstances would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety,” the notice, filed by Metro attorneys, said.
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