Federal Indictment Charges Man With Attempting To Provide Material Support To ISIS

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – An 18-year-old man has been indicted by a Charlotte grand jury for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization, announced Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. The formal indictment comes after Christian Sturdivant, of Mint Hill, was arrested and charged on December 31, 2025, by criminal complaint after the FBI learned he was planning to use knives and hammers to execute a deadly New Year’s Eve attack at a grocery store and a fast- food restaurant. Sturdivant’s alleged plan was to harm as many people as possible until he was killed by law enforcement.

James C. Barnacle, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office, joins U.S. Attorney Ferguson in making the announcement.

According to allegations in filed documents and court proceedings, the FBI launched an investigation after receiving information that Sturdivant had been communicating with an online undercover law enforcement agent whom Sturdivant thought was an ISIS member. Over the course of their communications, Sturdivant told the undercover agent he was going to “do jihad soon,” and proclaimed he was “a soldier of the state,” meaning ISIS. On December 29, 2025, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Sturdivant’s residence, where they discovered handwritten documents indicating he was planning an attack. Law enforcement also seized from Sturdivant’s bedroom two hammers and two butcher knives, a list of targets, as well as tactical gloves and a vest, all acquired as part of the defendant’s alleged planned attack.

Sturdivant remains in federal custody. If convicted, Sturdivant faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. A federal district court judge will determine the ultimate sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, the Matthews Police Department, the Monroe Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Air Marshal Service, the Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, with the assistance of the NYPD, additional FBI Field Offices, the FBI Counterterrorism Division, and the Mint Hill Police Department.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Gleason for the Western District of North Carolina and DOJ Trial Attorney Elisa Poteat with the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

The charges against the defendant are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.