ROANOKE, Va. – A federal judge denied bond for a 30-year-old man charged with making a video to help ISIS.
On Friday in court, the judge determined that Romeo Langhorne will be sent to Jacksonville, Florida to face the charges against him. The judge deemed him a flight risk and a threat to community safety.
“If they thought he was a threat why did they let him go this long coercing him, when he clearly in the statement, in the report, that he said that they were trying to make him an expert at something that he’s not,” Romeo’s mom, Virginia Langhorne said.
Langhorne’s mother and grandmother begged the court to put him on house arrest until he needed to go to Jacksonville, Florida for the rest of his trial. They said he’s not receiving his medications in jail, nor is he getting the treatment he needs.
Langhorne was arrested last Friday in Roanoke. He asked to be placed on suicide watch at the Western Virginia Regional Jail because he said he was being threatened by other inmates and wanted to be isolated.
The federal criminal complaint showed that since 2014, undercover FBI agents had been looking into his activity and had conversations with him.
Langhorne’s mother, Virginia, told 10 News that the allegations against her son are false and that he has suffered from mental illness for years. Professional mental experts backed those claims up in court Friday, saying he’s been in and out of the hospital for years and is diagnosed with schizophrenia, personality disorder, ADHD and other issues. Langhorne’s family said he does not act normal when he is not on his medications. They said he hasn’t taken them in more than two years despite their wishes.
Neighbors told 10 News that his family members live at an address in Rocky Mount, just off Route 220 and they saw Langhorne himself there at times during the summer. Lan
"I don’t think that their decision was right today, because they’re putting on a trial, they’re convicting him before he’s even found guilty, " Virginia Langhorne said.