WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd June, 2019) A Federal jury in the city of Chicago has convicted two men who worked with undercover FBI operatives to support the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia), the US Department of Justice announced on Friday.
"The jury in federal court in Chicago on Thursday convicted Joseph D. Jones, 37, and Edward Schimenti, 37, both of Zion, Illinois, on one count of conspiring to provide material support and resources to ISIS [Islamic State]," a department press release said. "Schimenti was also convicted on one count of making false statements to the FBI."
Jones and Schimenti advocated on social media for violent extremism in support of the terrorist group and began meeting with undercover FBI operatives and other individuals who were cooperating with law enforcement in 2015, the release said.
In 2017, the pair furnished cellular phones to a cooperating individual, believing the phones would be used to detonate explosive devices in Islamic State attacks overseas, the release explained.
On April 7, 2017, Jones and Schimenti drove the cooperating individual to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, with the understanding that the individual would be traveling to Syria to fight with the terrorist group, the release said.
The material support charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, according to the release.
