Federal Jury Convicts 2 Suburban Men Of Conspiracy To Aid ISIS

CHICAGO — Two Lake County men were convicted of conspiring to help a terrorist organization Thursday by a federal jury in Chicago. It was the first terrorism case in the area to end in a trial, rather than a guilty plea, since the 9/11 attacks. Federal prosecutors argued the men had crossed the line from talk to material support, while their attorneys contended the pair had been entrapped by federal investigators for engaging in offensive but protected speech.

Edward Schimenti, also known as "Abdul Wali," and Joseph Jones, also known as "Yusuf Abdulhaqq," are both 37 years old and Zion residents. After an 18-month investigation, the men were arrested 2017 after dropping off an undercover FBI agent at O'Hare International Airport in April 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago.

Both men were indicted on one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to the foreign terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, also known as ISIS. According to the charges, the two bought several cell phones for the government source with the belief that they would be used as detonators for explosives used in ISIS attacks abroad.

"Drench that land with they, they blood," Schimenti told the source as he dropped him off at the airport, according to the FBI affidavit in support of the criminal complaint against the men.

In April 2018, Schimenti was also charged with lying to the FBI about his conversations about using cell phones as bomb detonators with the undercover source. He was also found guilty of that offense by a jury Thursday.

The two men never took part in any violence, although Schimenti claimed in a recorded conversation that he hoped to conduct an attack on a graduation ceremony at the nearby Naval Station Great Lakes, prosecutors said.

"I want to see blood flowing, whatever way," Schimenti told the informant while shopping for supplies for the source's trip to Syria, supposedly to support ISIS, according to the complaint. "You can Google my name and I put it in English so the Kuffar [infidels] can see, Islamic State here to stay!"

Schimenti also said he hoped to be the "the one to cut the neck," despite his lack of physical fitness, according to the FBI. Prosecutors released images showing two men they said were Jones and Schimenti holding ISIS flags at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion.

Schimenti also told the informant he hoped to see the group's black banner fly "on top of the White House" and to have the opportunity to drop gay people from the roof of the Sears Tower in accordance with fundamentalist Islamic law, according to the FBI.

» MORE: Complete federal complaint against Joseph D. Jones and Edward Schimenti (PDF)

Meetings with the government's undercover sources took place in Bridgeview, Chicago, Highland Park, North Chicago, Waukegan and Zion.

At one of them, an undercover informant asked Schimenti if he wanted to "rock it out," as in commit violence, and Schimenti stormed out of the room and told Jones he never wanted to to see the source again, according to court filings. Even before buying cell phones for the source, Schimenti told another informant he had a "real funny feeling" about the undercover agent and did not trust him. But, he said, he thought he might have been just "overthinking" everything, according to the complaint.

Defense attorneys for the two men argued that federal investigators had entrapped their clients into committing a crime. They filed a motion requesting the jury be instructed as to the meaning of entrapment — that the government cannot plot a crime and induce an otherwise innocent person to carry it out. It said the men never expressed any willingness to conduct violence.

"Prior to the government's introduction of a confidential informant, neither Mr. Schimenti nor Mr. Jones ever took any affirmative steps to assist [a foreign terrorist organization]," the defense attorneys said. "They never researched on their computers how to make explosives, or how cell phones can work as detonators. Plainly put, they only actively assisted once the [confidential human source] entered the scene."

The two men never had the means to carry out any terrorism, their lawyers argued. Although Schimenti was admittedly the moderator of a social media group sympathetic to ISIS, he never asked about meeting anyone offline or tried to provide material support to any terrorist groups, the lawyers said.

"This only started once prompted by government agents," they argued. "It is extremely unlikely Mr. Schimenti or Mr. Jones would have committed the [crime with which they were charged] without government inducement." The lawyers argued that the men's speech in support of ISIS and sharing of the terror group's propaganda may have been offensive but remained constitutionally protected political speech, rather than a criminal offense.

The judge agreed that the defense attorneys had enough evidence to present the entrapment issue to a jury, noting that the confidential government source had "played to their sympathies by claiming that he was a refugee whose family was trapped in Syria," according to a pre-trial order.

Schimenti was "an internet troll," his lawyer told jurors during opening statements, "hiding behind a computer screen, sending offensive videos over social media," according to The Chicago Tribune.

The trial lasted about four weeks and deliberations took about 13 hours Wednesday and Thursday, the Tribune reported. At times during the proceedings, U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood closed the courtroom to the public, blocking doors and windows to prevent people from seeing inside the courtroom as the government presented its witnesses.

The convictions for material support for terrorism are punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Schimenti's conviction for lying to the FBI about a matter related to terrorism could result in another eight years. A date for a sentencing hearing has not been set.

Earlier: North Suburban Duo Charged With Conspiracy To Support ISIS