'South Park' critic in Va. court on terror charge

[July 22, 2010]  ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A Virginia man known for a threatening the creators of "South Park" is due in federal court on charges of offering himself as a fighter to a Somali terror group linked to al-Qaida.

Twenty-year-old Zachary Chesser of Oakton, Va., was scheduled to make an initial appearance Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria.

FBI agents say Chesser twice tried to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab as a fighter. An FBI affidavit says he was stopped once by his mother-in-law and the second time was told he was on the no-fly list.

Chesser is charged with providing material support to a terrorist group. He is not charged for an online posting in April that said the creators of the animated TV series "South Park" risked death by mocking the Prophet Muhammad.

[Associated Press]

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