'You were part of our team,' sergeant tells Aurora man who plotted to attack Joliet base
Two Aurora cousins claimed they never meant to carry out plans to attack a Joliet National Guard base where one had been stationed.
But their own words, caught on video by an undercover FBI agent, condemned the would-be Islamic State recruits who will spend decades in prison for plotting to murder as many as 150 people at the base.
“You were a promising soldier who we looked out for. You were a part of our team,” Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Sherman told former guardsman Hasan Edmonds, 23, who was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in prison followed by 20 years of parole in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
Edmonds' cousin, Jonas Edmonds, 30, was sentenced to 21 years in prison and 20 years of parole for the scheme to attack the base. He pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State and lying to federal authorities.
“How could you come to any rational conclusion that was the team you wanted to fight for?” an impassioned Sherman told the impassive Hasan Edmonds. “They're not engaged in a holy war. They are not holy warriors. They are murderous bullies. You would have been a pawn to them.”
U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee, who presided over the cousins' cases, also reserved his harshest criticism for Hasan Edmonds, saying he took an oath to defend the Constitution and his country's citizens only to tear at the very fabric of the nation by his betrayal.
Lee rejected Hasan Edmonds' claim he was led astray and under the influence of his older cousin when he provided Jonas Edmonds and an undercover FBI agent with detailed plans of the Joliet armory, a drill schedule and advice on which soldiers to kill. All of that was caught on chilling undercover video in which Hasan Edmonds calmly and without emotion advises the others to target officers.
“Kill the head and the body follows,” he said. “See the stripes (officers), take the shot.”
In the video, Hasan Edmonds comments that not all soldiers wear body armor during drills. A bulletproof vest can “sustain about two shots to the center mass ... the third one always ... goes through.”
“It is difficult to imagine a more pernicious crime than a soldier betraying his country,” said Lee, who imposed decades-long sentences to serve as a “clear and unequivocal message” to others.
“It was fortuitous the plot was stopped and the calamity averted,” Lee said.
Earlier, Jonas Edmonds attempted to minimize his involvement, claiming he never meant to go through with the attack. He said the FBI “enticed” him into the plot against the military base.
“I do acknowledge my actions and my role in this. One thing the government refuses to admit is the FBI agent encouraged and enticed these actions. Before the agent there was no conspiracy,” said Jonas Edmonds, who described his conversations with undercover FBI agents as merely “bold talk.”
“The record indicates they did more than just talk,” Lee countered. “They took affirmative steps” in conducting surveillance of the base.
The cousins were arrested March 24, 2015. Federal agents took Hasan Edmonds into custody at Midway International Airport in Chicago as he prepared to board a plane for Egypt. They arrested Jonas, who was carrying his cousin's uniforms in a duffel bag, a few hours later.
Hasan Edmonds had begun communicating online a few months earlier with someone he believed was an Islamic State fighter in Libya but who was actually an undercover FBI agent. During their conversations, Edmonds expressed support for the Islamic State and indicated he and his cousin Jonas would travel to the Middle East to fight with the group or stage attacks in the United States.
Hasan Edmonds bought a ticket to Cairo, Egypt, and told a second undercover FBI agent he was traveling to fight for the terrorist organization, authorities said. Jonas Edmonds told the same agent he intended to attack his cousin's former Army National Guard base in Joliet and anticipated leaving a “body count” of up to 150 people.
Lee agreed to a request by both cousins to recommend a federal prison near Philadelphia so they could be near family. However, the Federal Bureau of Prisons is under no obligation to follow that recommendation.
Hasan Edmonds' mother, who appeared upset throughout the hearing, approached Sgt. Sherman during a break and shook his hand. They parted with a hug.
Later, the woman, who declined to give her name, expressed disappointment with her son, who she said knew right from wrong.
“I'm ashamed of his actions,” she said.