Schizophrenic California man in terrorism case is fit for trial: newspaper

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - A California man diagnosed in jail with schizophrenia has been declared competent to stand trial on charges he attempted to travel to Syria to support the Islamic State militant group, the Sacramento Bee reported.

Nicholas Teausant, 21, of the central California community of Lodi, was arrested last year in an undercover operation some in the Muslim community have said was an example of investigators using a sting operation to take advantage of a vulnerable individual.

Teausant was arrested in 2014 while attempting to cross into Canada from Washington state. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia last year and placed on medication.

The newspaper reported that Teausant had been transferred from a Sacramento jail to the federal Bureau of Prisons' Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles for treatment, where his condition improved.

Prosecutors contend Teausant said he wanted to join Islamic State to fight in Syria on the side of hardline Sunni Muslim fighters against the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, controls wide areas of Iraq and Syria. It has killed members of religious minorities and beheaded a number of captives.

"I'm going to be a commander and I'm going to be on the front of every single newspaper in the country," the criminal complaint quoted Teausant as telling a paid FBI informant in February. "Like I want my face on FBI's top 12 most wanted. Because that means I'm doing something right."

Teausant, a convert to Islam, also spoke of wanting to target the subway system in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, according to the complaint.

Teausant faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if he is convicted, but the Bee reported that negotiations were under way for a settlement in the case.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Peter Cooney)