Denver Teen Sentenced ISIS - A 19-year-old woman from Denver, Colorado, has been sentenced to 4 years in jail and 3 years of supervised release with 100 hours of community service after she was found guilty of conspiring to provide support to the Islamic State by travelling to work as a nurse for the terrorists.
Shannon Conley was arrested at the Denver Airport in April 2014 as she attempted to board a plane for Germany, from where she planned to head to Turkey to meet a Tunisian man Yousr Mouelhi, who is reportedly a member of ISIS.
Court documents indicate that Conley had met Mouelhi online and communicated with him on Skype. She had reportedly planned to marry him when they met.
Conley, who says she never intended to hurt anyone although she supported jihad, tearfully told the court that she wants to be given a chance to prove that she is not a threat to society. Her legal team noted that the teenager has denounced jihad and was misguided by the people who she looked to while exploring her newly found Muslim faith. Conley is reportedly "horrified" by the reports of brutality in ISIS-controlled territories and never intended to be part of the violence.
But Judge Raymond Moore said he doubts Conley has repented. He noted that she has a history of being defiant and that she needs mental help.
Conley had reportedly taken training in military tactics and firearms as well as first aid/nursing with the aim of furthering her plan of joining ISIS.
Authorities were informed of Conley's growing extremism after she started discussing her plans with members of a suburban Denver church. She was also seen walking around and making measurements of the building. Reports indicate that FBI agents had met with Conley to dissuade her from attempting to join Syria, but the teenager remained defiant.
Many commentators have indicated that her sentence is intended to dissuade other teenagers from also thinking of joining the terrorists. Conley stood to be handed a longer sentence, but was given a shorter sentence because she has reportedly agreed to assist the cops in investigating other teenagers with similar motives.
While several European teenagers are known to have joined the ranks of ISIS, Conley is the first American to be officially charged with this crime.
Her parents John and Maria Conley have released a statement saying that while their daughter's sentence is meant to deter others from joining ISIS, it is an overblown response. They criticized the government for spending lots of money to prosecute Conley and inevitably spreading fear about the terrorists.
"We have been saddened not only by how the media has tried to sensationalize this situation but how quickly many have been willing to condemn our daughter without even reading the public legal record," they wrote.
