Overview
- Mark Lorenzo Villanueva, 29, entered guilty pleas in Los Angeles to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and to being a felon in possession of a firearm.
- According to the Justice Department, he sent about a dozen Western Union payments totaling $1,615 over five months to intermediaries who accessed the money overseas for weapons, ammunition, and supplies.
- Court papers say he messaged self-identified ISIS fighters starting in February 2025, expressed a desire to fight and die for the group, and discussed potential operations in the United States.
- An August 2025 FBI search of his Long Beach home recovered an improvised explosive device packed with ball bearings, nails, screws, and other metal fragments.
- He remains in federal custody, has a 2017 felony stalking conviction that barred firearm possession, and faces up to 35 years at a June 17 sentencing.