U.S. Army National Guard Soldier and His Cousin Indicted for Conspiring to Support Terrorism

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon of the Northern District of Illinois and Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Holley of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office announced today that two Aurora, Illinois, men were indicted on Thursday for allegedly conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a foreign terrorist organization.        

U.S. Army National Guard Specialist Hasan Edmonds, 22, and his cousin, Jonas Edmonds, 29, were arrested last month by members of the Chicago FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and remain in federal custody.  The defendants were charged in an indictment filed yesterday in U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois with one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.  Both defendants will be arraigned on April 8, at 10:00 before Magistrate Judge Sheila M. Finnegan.

Conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  If convicted, the court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barry Jonas and John Kness of the Northern District of Illinois, and Trial Attorney Lolita Lukose of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.