Jack Danaher Molloy, a dual U.S.-Irish citizen who was an American soldier for a short time, is accused in a federal indictment of attempting to join the terrorist group Hezbollah and lying to the FBI, according to a Justice Department statement Jan. 2, 2025. (U.S. Dept. of Justice)
A Pennsylvania man who briefly served in the Army faces charges of attempting to join the militant group Hezbollah and lying to the FBI, according to the Justice Department.
Jack Danaher Molloy, 24, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Thursday.
He traveled to Lebanon and Syria last year to join the Iran-backed group despite knowing it’s a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, a DOJ statement said the same day.
The charge related to his attempt to join a terrorist group carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while the false statement charges have a maximum penalty of eight years in prison.
Molloy signed a contract in September 2021 with the Army ROTC at the University of Illinois at Chicago, but court documents show that he is no longer a ROTC member.
He served as an enlisted active-duty soldier from March to April 2019. Court records did not explain the circumstances of his departure from service.
A dual U.S. and Irish citizen who converted to Islam in early 2024, Molloy contacted people in Lebanon while in the country in August about becoming a Hezbollah fighter, DOJ said.
His contacts responded that the time was not right and that he’d need to take further steps, according to court documents, which say the contacts told him that the way he was trying to join was unusual and that he might be suspected of spying for Israel.
In October, Molloy traveled to Syria in the hopes that it would be easier to join Hezbollah’s branch in that country. After speaking to a person there, he returned to the U.S. a little more than a week later, court documents state.
Upon arriving at Pittsburgh International Airport on Oct. 20, Molloy falsely told FBI agents that he did not intend to join Hezbollah, that he had no business in Syria and that he had not met anyone there, the DOJ said.
Molloy supported and idolized violence against Jews, according to further FBI findings outlined in a criminal complaint.
Molloy said in a WhatsApp message with a family member that his “master plan was to join Hezbollah and kill Jews,” the complaint said.
