The FBI arrested a Castle Rock man at Denver International Airport on July 14 for allegedly attempting to join the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, an Islamic militant organization. 

Davin Daniel Meyer, 18, is charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado. He appeared in federal court on July 17. 

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Meyer pledged an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group and planned to travel to Iraq to fight for them. 

Law enforcement began investigating Meyer when a person who knows him reported him to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in June 2022 over concerns with Meyer’s extremism and interest in violence. 

According to Meyer’s affidavit, the individual told police that Meyer had previously followed white supremacist ideology but began practicing Islam in October 2020. Meyer allegedly told the individual that he planned to go to Syria and become a martyr. 

Meyer also allegedly threatened to build a bomb and kill people in America. Meyer’s affidavit says he is diagnosed with multiple mental health conditions and had received residential treatment, but did not take medication because of his religious beliefs. 

Staff at the residential treatment center reported Meyer said bigoted things about people of color, women and Jews.

Meyer reportedly did not go to his local mosque because it wasn’t radical enough and allowed women to attend. 

In November 2022, FBI agents posed as Islamic State facilitators and began communicating online with Meyer. Meyer told the agents that he planned to save money to travel to Iraq and become a fighter for the Islamic State. He also sent them a video of him swearing an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State’s leader.

Meyer met with an undercover FBI agent in person three times between November 2022 and June 2023 and discussed his plan each time. 

In June, Meyer had gotten a passport and bought plane tickets to fly from Denver to Munich, Germany and then to Ankara, Turkey, where he believed he would meet up with members of the Islamic State and travel with them to Iraq. 

On July 14, Meyer arrived at the Denver International Airport for his flight to Munich and was arrested by FBI agents on the jet bridge before boarding the plane. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Hindman of the District of Colorado is prosecuting on behalf of the government with the assistance of Jennifer Levy of the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.  

The case is being investigated by the FBI Denver Field Office with assistance provided by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.