Two Zion men charged with plotting to aid ISIS
Two 35-year-old Zion men were arrested Wednesday on federal charges of plotting to aid ISIS.
Joseph D. Jones, also known as Yusuf Abdulhaqq, and Edward Schimenti, also known as Abdul Wali, have been under investigation since 2015, federal authorities said.
The pair are charged with conspiring to knowingly provide and attempt to provide material support and resources to the Islamic state of Iraq and al-Sham. Both appeared in court at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago and were both ordered held until a detention hearing on Monday.
According to authorities, in fall 2015 the pair befriended three others who they thought were fellow ISIS devotees. But two of the individuals were undercover FBI employees and the third was cooperating with law enforcement and was not an ISIS supporter.
Over the next several months, the five met regularly throughout the suburbs and in Chicago to discuss "their devotion to ISIS and their commitment to Islamic State principles," according to federal prosecutors.
"Eddie is no terrorist, no, he is not like that," Joni Schimenti, Edward Schimenti's mother, said after the federal court hearing, according to ABC 7.
In the criminal complaint, prosecutors quoted Schimenti as telling the cooperating source he was thinking of the Naval graduation that takes place on "Buckley," and asking him to "pray I get the faith," which authorities interpreted as Schimenti "gathering the courage to launch some sort of attack at Naval Station Great Lakes."
Authorities said Schimenti and Jones shared photos of themselves holding the ISIS flag at the Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, and in a recorded conversation with the cooperating source, Schimenti said he'd like to see the ISIS flag "on top of the White House."
Schimenti also worked out with the cooperating source who he thought was planning to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS, telling the source that the exercise would "make you good, you know, in the battlefield."
Authorities said the two also furnished several cellphones to the cooperating source, believing they would be used to detonate explosive devices in ISIS attacks.
According to court papers, Jones and Schimenti drove the cooperating source to O'Hare International Airport with the understanding that the source would go to Syria to join ISIS.
The two men could receive up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
This isn't the first time suburban men have been accused of attempting to aid ISIS. In September 2016, two Aurora cousins were sentenced to prison - one for 30 years and another for 20 years - for attempting to provide aid to the terrorist organization. In 2014, a Bolingbrook man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to join ISIS.