Idaho Man Alexander Scott Mercurio Sentenced to 18 Years for IS Support

Alexander Scott Mercurio was sentenced on Tuesday to 18 years in federal prison for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, ABC News reported.

U.S. District Judge David C. Nye ordered the 21-year-old Idaho man to serve the prison term followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Mercurio pleaded guilty to the federal terrorism charge last month.

Federal prosecutors said Mercurio pledged his allegiance to IS and planned to attack churches in Coeur d’Alene using explosives, knives, and firearms. The FBI arrested him on April 6, 2024, just one day before the planned assault.

“Sends the clear message that where individuals intend to pursue acts of terrorism against the United States — whether in Coeur d’Alene, or any other community — they will be brought to justice,” said John Shirts, Idaho U.S. Attorney.

Defense Arguments and Background

Defense attorneys Carter Powers Beggs and J. Stephen Roberts Jr. with the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho declined to comment on the case.

In court documents, defense counsel described Mercurio as a depressed teenager raised in a dysfunctional family that exposed him to white supremacist ideology early in life. Isolated and dealing with family trauma, he was befriended online by a government informant.

Mercurio bounced through multiple political ideologies before embracing radical Islam when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Court records show he created an online repository for pro-IS content and wanted to travel overseas, but lacked the money and resources.

Idaho Man Alexander Scott Mercurio Sentenced to 18 Years for IS Support

“Starting when he was just seventeen years old, Mr. Mercurio spent his days holed away in his basement bedroom, talking with his best friend about increasingly radical terrorist ideologies,” his attorneys wrote in court documents.

“Together they brainstormed a plan that was as horrific as it was unlikely to succeed: a suicidal attack on local churches using his father’s firearms and an untested improvised explosive/flamethrower.”

Mercurio has since renounced his extremist views and was assessed as a low risk of future danger, his defense team argued. They asked the court for a nine-year sentence.

Before his arrest, Mercurio gave the government informant an audio recording pledging support for IS, along with a photograph of himself holding a knife in front of an IS flag.

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