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Prosecutors want maximum sentence for Aurora terror plotter

Federal prosecutors are seeking the maximum 30-year prison sentence for an Aurora man who they say conspired with his cousin to conduct a terrorist attack on the Illinois National Guard base in Joliet in the name of the Islamic State, according court documents filed Friday.

Hasan Edmonds “betrayed both his word and his country by plotting to kill his fellow soldiers” at the base where he served as a member of the National Guard, a 19-page sentencing memorandum filed by the U.S. attorneys office states.

Edmonds, 23, pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to provide material support and attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Authorities say he and cousin Jonas Edmonds, 30, of Aurora, began plotting an attack in early 2015 after Hasan began communicating online with someone he believed was an ISIS fighter in Libya, but who was really an undercover FBI agent. Federal prosecutors say Hasan Edmonds planned to travel to the Middle East to join the Islamic State while Jonas Edmonds would infiltrate and attack the Joliet National Guard base while wearing his cousin's uniform, and kill as many as 150 service members.

On March 25, Jonas Edmonds drove Hasan to Midway Airport for a flight to Egypt. Jonas Edmonds then retrieved several of his cousin's uniforms to wear during the military base attack, authorities said. Hasan Edmonds was arrested as he was about to board his flight, and Jonas was taken into custody several hours later.

“Had this scheme succeeded, we would have been left to mourn yet more victims of ideological terrorism,” federal prosecutors state in Friday's court filing. “Because defendant's actions were a contemptible betrayal of both the nation's trust and his fellow soldiers, he should be forced to pay a heavy price.”

Earlier this month, Hasan Edmonds' attorney filed a memorandum arguing that the Aurora man be sentenced to 15 years in prison. The memorandum notes that he had no prior criminal history, and places much of the blame for his actions on his older cousin.

“Hasan was a young, impressionable Muslim who had recently committed to Islam,” defense lawyer Paul Flynn writes. “It was only through Hasan's own religious (naiveté) and religious aspiration to live a more pious life that he became infected by his cousin's distorted and ultimately destructive visions.”

Hasan Edmonds is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 20. Jonas Edmonds, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist and to making false statements to a federal officer regarding an offense involving international terrorism, is set to be sentenced the same day.

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