ORANGE PARK, Fla. – As the federal government seeks to learn more about the man arrested in Jacksonville accused of supporting and wanting to join the Islamic State, News4Jax is investigating his life and the business he ran in Orange Park.
According to reports, 30-year-old Abror Habibov was a Uzbekistan citizen who legally entered the United States. During his time in America he was married and divorced and opened a series of kiosks at shopping malls, including Orange Park Mall.
Before attempting to join ISIS, Habibov was living in Virginia where he met and eventually married Lakeisha Bailey.
"I never knew him as Muslim. He never did strike me as that way," said Bailey.
As time went by in the marriage, he started spending more time in New York and eventually severed contact with Bailey.
"He just fled. It was like he didn't exist anymore," Bailey said.
While in New York Habibov spent time with Farhod Sultan, president of the Vatandosh Uzbek-American Federation.
"In one word, he was lost. He was so eager to learn Islam. Since my background was Islamic law he asked me a lot of questions about Islam, Islamic teachings. And a couple of times I remember warning him about his thoughts and his understanding of Islam, his understanding of Islamic principles," said Sultan.
According to officials, after disappearing to New York, Habibov started small businesses along the East Coast, one of which was a cell phone repair and accessory kiosk that Habibov ran in Orange Park..
That kiosk did not require a business license.
According to Janice Donaldson, who runs the small business development center at the University of North Florida, some counties, such as Clay, where the mall is located, don't require a small business license.
"It just depends on the types of business. You know some businesses are more tightly regulated then other types of businesses. The big trend over the last decade is reduces the regulation in licensing and permitting and paperwork in licensing and regulating a business. Particularly a small business," said Donaldson.
As details continue to emerge on the life of Habibov, News4Jax will continue to look into the mind of the man seeking to support terrorism and the Islamic State.