Public Safety · North Las Vegas
North Las Vegas 19-year-old pleads guilty to attempting to provide material support for Islamic State terrorism
Joshua Robles, 19, pleaded guilty Oct. 26 in a case where authorities accused him of collecting bomb components and plotting against Gov. Joe Lombardo. A sentencing hearing with no agreed-upon sentence is next.
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What happened
A 19-year-old from North Las Vegas has pleaded guilty in a terrorism case tied to the Islamic State, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Joshua Robles entered the plea Oct. 26 to one count of attempt to provide material support for act(s) of terrorism or terrorist(s).
Robles was arrested in 2023 and was ordered to be tried as an adult. According to the Review-Journal, authorities had accused him of gathering bomb-making components, plotting against Gov. Joe Lombardo and then-President Joe Biden, and keeping ISIS execution videos on his phone.
The charges and the plea
Original indictment
Before the plea, a grand jury indicted Robles on several counts, the Review-Journal reported. They included providing material support for terrorism, attempting to commit or cause terrorism, and soliciting another person to aid or further terrorism, along with charges involving incendiary devices.
No agreed sentence
The plea does not come with a specific sentence. Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not agree on one, and each side will be able to make arguments at a later sentencing hearing, according to the Review-Journal.
What prosecutors allege
Chatroom activity
Police and prosecutors said Robles wrote in a November 2023 chatroom post that he would be starting "lone wolf operations in Las Vegas against the enemies of Allah," the Review-Journal reported. Prosecutors said he took part in a chatroom with ISIS supporters and told detectives he liked videos of ISIS executions.
Alleged steps toward violence
Robles told police he did not plan to carry out an attack, but prosecutors argued his actions showed otherwise. "By the end of November, (Robles) took steps towards actual violence," prosecutor Tanner Sharp wrote in a motion, according to the Review-Journal.
In that motion, Sharp wrote that Robles began dressing as an ISIS soldier with a knife and flag, gathered explosive components to make pipe bombs and started naming specific targets, including Lombardo and Biden. Sharp also alleged that Robles' phone held the names of ISIS leaders, bomb-making instructions and a poem fantasizing about violence toward Jewish people.
Earlier school suspension
Prosecutors said Robles was suspended from Cannon Junior High School in 2020 after staff and students reported that he had threatened a school shooting, the Review-Journal reported.
Sheriff refused electronic monitoring
Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill previously refused to release Robles onto electronic monitoring, according to the Review-Journal. A notice filed by Metro attorneys described Robles as radicalized and said the sheriff had concluded that "releasing him under any circumstances would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety."
The Review-Journal's report did not include a date for sentencing. For more on courts and policing around the valley, see our public safety coverage.
What to watch next
- Robles' sentencing hearing, for which the Review-Journal did not report a date.
- Arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys on the sentence, since the plea did not include an agreed-upon term.
