Federal agents in Michigan are searching for a medical school graduate with ties to Denver’s East High School who has fled to Syria and is believed to be working as a doctor for Islamic State extremists, according to media reports.
Sealed federal court records in Flint, Mich., show that Mohamed Maleeh Masha, 24, is suspected of supporting the Islamic State and could be recruiting members in the Michigan area, The Detroit News reported Thursday.
Masha has not been located and indications are he could be in Syria or Iraq.
His Facebook page indicates he attended the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan, and that he still lives in that area. There has been no activity on his Facebook account since December.
Masha’s time in Denver offers little information, according to Denver Public Schools and other public records.
His family moved every couple of years since at least 1996 until he graduated from East in 2009, property records show. It is unclear if Masha was born in Denver, but he attended elementary school here since at least the fifth grade, school district officials confirmed.
A former classmate described Masha as quiet and studious and said his membership in any religious group “would be out of character.”
“He was just a regular guy,” said Miles LaGree, 23, who also attended East. “He was kind of in the odd-kids group, nothing particular, just off to the sides, kind of nerdy.”
LaGree recalled Masha took advanced chemistry classes and excelled in the sciences.
“I definitely remember him as not being much with the girls,” LaGree recalled.
The two remained friends on Facebook, but LaGree said he didn’t know of Masha’s religious-based postings that involved Islam or jihad.
Masha’s family lived near the Cherry Creek Shopping Center as well as Denver’s Lincoln Park and Virginia Village neighborhoods.
The family moved to Flushing, Mich., near Flint, in about 2010 and has lived there since.
Masha’s mother, Limya Elhoweris, and father, Maleeh Masha, had no run-ins with police or the courts system.
Calls to the family’s home in Michigan were unanswered.
Agents were looking for evidence Masha or others were providing money, personnel and material support to terrorists or “designated foreign terrorist organizations,” according to a copy of the search warrant reported by The Detroit News. Offering material support or any resource to a known terrorist organization is a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Investigators specifically were hunting for evidence Masha was helping the Islamic State, according to the News report.
