Former National Guard member gets 30
years for plot to attack Illinois base
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[September 21, 2016]
By Timothy Mclaughlin
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A former member of the
Illinois National Guard was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Tuesday
for planning with his cousin to attack a military installation outside
Chicago as part of a conspiracy to support the Islamic State militant
group.
Hasan Edmonds, 24, and his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, 31, pleaded guilty
last year to planning to carry out an armed attack on the military
facility where Hasan Edmonds had been training in Joliet, 34 miles
(55km) southwest of downtown Chicago.
Jonas Edmonds was sentenced to 21 years in prison earlier on Tuesday.
"They were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for planning to wage
violence on behalf of ISIL in the Middle East and to conduct an attack
on our soil," U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said in a
statement on Tuesday, referring to Islamic State by an acronym.
"Thanks to the efforts of many prosecutors, agents and analysts, we were
able to ensure these plotters did not attain their violent intentions."
Jonas Edmonds' attorney, James Graham, said prosecutors initially
believed his client was more culpable, but changed course as the trial
proceeded to focus on Hasan.
Hasan Edmonds' attorney, Paul Flynn, was not immediately available for
comment.
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Hasan Edmonds was arrested at Chicago's Midway Airport in March 2015 as
he tried to fly to Egypt. The cousins' plan called for Hasan to leave
the United States and join Islamic State fighters while Jonas carried
out the attack, according to an affidavit attached to the criminal
complaint.
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Prosecutors said Hasan Edmonds had been using Facebook to
communicate with an undercover Federal Bureau of Investigation agent
pretending to be an Islamic State fighter.
Hasan Edmonds pleaded guilty in December 2015 to conspiring to
provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and
attempting to provide support - namely personnel - to the
organization.
He had been a member of the Illinois National Guard since 2011.
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Jonas Edmonds, 30, pleaded guilty the same month to the conspiracy
charge and a charge of lying to law enforcement on an offense
related to terrorism.
U.S. Attorney Barry Jonas wrote in court documents last month that
Hasan Edmonds "...betrayed both his word and his country by plotting
to kill his fellow soldiers on behalf of the so-called Islamic State
of Iraq and the Levant."
"Had this scheme succeeded, we would have been left to mourn yet
more victims of ideological terrorism," he added.
(Editing by Bill Rigby)
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