NEW YORK — A U.S. Army soldier duped into pondering he was speaking on-line with a terrorist when it was actually an FBI worker pleaded responsible Wednesday to looking for to inform terrorists find out how to ambush U.S. troopers within the Middle East.
Cole Bridges, 22, entered pleas in Manhattan federal court docket to making an attempt to supply materials help to terrorists and making an attempt to homicide U.S. army service members. He may resist 20 years in jail on every of the 2 costs at a Nov. 2 sentencing.
Bridges, of Stow, Ohio, has been incarcerated since his January 2021 arrest, which occurred whereas he was based mostly in Fort Stewart, Georgia, with the Third Infantry Division, the place the non-public was a cavalry scout. He joined the Army in September 2019.
According to court docket paperwork, Bridges was 19 when he started researching and consuming on-line propaganda selling jihadists in 2019.
Authorities stated he expressed help on social media for the Islamic State militant group and for jihad earlier than he started speaking in October 2020 with an FBI worker posing as an Islamic State group supporter who was involved with the group’s fighters within the Middle East.
At his plea listening to, Bridges acknowledged that he tried to supply materials help to Islamic State group members.
“The support I provided included tactical advice, hand-drawn diagrams of potential troop maneuvers, pages from the Army Field Manual regarding troop movements and combat tactics, and a propaganda video,” he advised Judge Lewis J. Liman.
“In providing such training and advice, I also knowingly attempted to assist the efforts of ISIS to repel and kill American soldiers engaged in official duties in the Middle East. I knew at that time that ISIS was a terrorist organization and had engaged in terrorist activity. I also knew that my conduct was wrong,” he stated.
In court docket papers, investigators stated Bridges, also referred to as Cole Gonzales, expressed frustration with the U.S. army throughout his on-line chats.
After the court docket continuing, Bridges grew to become emotional as he was reunited together with his father for the primary time in three years earlier than he was led again to jail. His lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, declined remark.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated in an announcement: “As he admitted in court today, Cole Bridges attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his fellow soldiers in service of ISIS and its violent ideology. Bridges’s traitorous conduct was a betrayal of his comrades and his country.”
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