Illinois Cousins Face Decades in Prison for Plot to Aid Islamic State Former National Guard soldier tried to board plane to Cairo in attempt to join terror group; cousin planned attack in U.S. By Will Connors
http://www.wsj.com/articles/illinois-cousins-face-decades-in-prison-for-plot-to-aid-islamic-state-1474410574
CHICAGO—A former Army National Guard soldier and his cousin were sentenced on Tuesday to lengthy prison terms for plotting to join Islamic State and to attack an Illinois military base.
The two men, who were arrested early last year, reached plea agreements in December 2015 with the U.S. attorney’s office after initially pleading not guilty.
Jonas Edmonds pleaded guilty to “conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization” and making a false statement to police in relation to international terrorism, according to a spokesman for the Northern District of Illinois branch of the U.S. attorney’s office. He was sentenced to 21 years by U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee.
His cousin Hasan Edmonds pleaded guilty to one count of “conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq,” and one count of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. He was sentenced to 30 years.
Hasan Edmonds was arrested in March 2015 at Chicago’s Midway Airport as he attempted to board a plane bound for Cairo, where authorities say he intended to join Islamic State. He had been a supply specialist in the Illinois National Guard, though he was never deployed abroad.
Lawyers for the two men couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The FBI had been tracking the pair for months on social media, and an undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS agent corresponded online and met in person with the two men.
Hasan Edmonds said his National Guard training and experience with weapons would be an asset to Islamic State, according to prosecutors.
During the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, the U.S. attorney’s office showed a video of Hasan Edmonds telling an undercover FBI agent how best to attack his National Guard base and how to target higher ranking members of the military.
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