ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Federal authorities say a New York ex-con has been arrested on charges he was planning a New Year's Eve attack at a bar to prove to the Islamic State he was worthy to join it in Syria.

Twenty-five-year-old Emanuel Lutchman was arrested Wednesday. Steven Slawinski, his federal defender, declined to comment on the charges.

Prosecutors say Lutchman, of Rochester, has been charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists. They say he was snared in an FBI sting.

A federal complaint says Lutchman is a self-professed convert to Islam who claimed to receive direction from an overseas Islamic State member and planned to carry out an attack at a bar in the Rochester area on Thursday. 

The FBI says Lutchman had an accomplice who was actually working for the agency. It says they bought knives and a machete for the attack.