COLORADO – A 19-year-old Colorado woman was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for providing help to the terrorist organizations, officials said.
Shannon Conley, 19, of Arvada, Colorado, admitted to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Authorities searched Conley’s house and found DVDs of Anwar Al-Awlaki lectures and a number of books and articles about AQ, other terrorist groups and jihad. Agents also recovered shooting targets labeled with the number of rounds fired and distances, officials said.
According to court documents, Conley admitted in a plea agreement, the following:
- From about February 2014 and continuing through April 8, 2014, Conley and a co-conspirator unlawfully worked together and with other individuals to help foreign terrorist organization, specifically Al-Qaeda (AQ) and Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), aka the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), aka the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (ISIS), aka the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
- The conspiracy was accomplished, in part, when Conley met the co-conspirator on the Internet. During their communications, they shared their view of Islam as requiring participation in violent jihad.
- The co-conspirator communicated to Conley that he was an active member of a group fighting in Syria known as ISIS.
- The two then decided to worked together to have Conley travel to Syria to join her new fiancé.
- Before traveling to Syria, Conley obtained additional training and skills in order to provide support and assistance to any AQ and/or ISIS fighter. Conley also intended to fight if it became necessary to do so.
In furtherance of the conspiracy, this is what happened:
Conley joined the U.S. Army Explorers or USAE to be trained in U.S. military tactics and in firearms. She traveled to Texas and attended the USAE training.
She also obtained first aid/nursing certification and National Rifle Association certification. Conley knew that ISIS was a designated foreign terrorist organization.
In fact, on numerous occasions, FBI agents met with her in attempts to persuade her not to carry out her plans to travel overseas to provide support to a foreign terrorist organization and to engage in violent jihad.
On March 29, 2014, the co-conspirator, together with others, arranged for an airline ticket to be purchased for Conley to travel to Turkey, departing from Denver on April 8, 2014.
On April 8, 2014, Conley traveled to Denver International Airport and attempted to board the flight to Turkey. She was then arrested by FBI agents.