A US Army soldier has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempting to aid an ISIS plot to kill fellow American soldiers in the Middle East.
Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzales, 24, of Stow, Ohio, was sentenced to 168 months in prison, followed by ten years of supervised release on Friday for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder U.S. military service members.
Bridges pleaded guilty to terrorism charges on June 14, 2023.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, “Before he joined the Army, beginning in at least 2019, Bridges began researching and consuming online propaganda promoting jihadists and their violent ideology, and began to express his support for ISIS and jihad on social media.”
“In or about October 2020, approximately one year after joining the Army, Bridges began communicating with an FBI online covert employee (the OCE), who was posing as an ISIS supporter in contact with ISIS fighters in the Middle East. During these communications, Bridges expressed his frustration with the U.S. military and his desire to aid ISIS. Bridges then provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City. Bridges also provided the OCE with portions of a U.S. Army training manual and guidance about military combat tactics, with the understanding that the materials would be used by ISIS in future attack planning.”
In 2020, Bridges began providing instructions for ISIS fighters to attack U.S. forces in the Middle East.
“Among other things, Bridges diagrammed specific military maneuvers intended to help ISIS fighters maximize the lethality of future attacks on U.S. troops,” the press release explains. “Bridges also provided advice about the best way to fortify an ISIS encampment to ambush U.S. Special Forces, including by wiring certain buildings with explosives to kill the U.S. troops.”
In January 2021, Bridges provided a video of himself in his U.S. Army body armor, standing in front of an ISIS flag and gesturing his support. He also narrated a video of a propaganda speech supporting an ambush on U.S. troops.
Bridges had been facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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