First Of Two Aurora Cousins Sentenced In Terror Plot Gets 21 Years
CHICAGO (AP) -- A Chicago federal judge on Tuesday sentenced an Illinois man to 21 years in prison for plotting to attack a U.S. military facility with his cousin, a former Illinois National Guard soldier.
Jonas Edmonds, 30, of Aurora has pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. His cousin, former soldier Hasan Edmonds, 23, also of Aurora, is to be sentenced later Tuesday.
In court on Tuesday, Jonas Edmonds said he dropped Hasan Edmonds at the airport to travel to the Middle East to join Islamic State fighters. But Jonas Edmonds denied he would have attacked the military armory in Joliet, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.
"The person they're trying to make me into, I'm not that person," Jonas Edmonds told U.S. District Judge John Lee.
Prosecutors requested a 30-year sentence for Hasan Edmonds and a 21-year prison term for Jonas Edmonds.
Hasan Edmonds devised a plan to travel to the Middle East while Jonas Edmonds attacked the National Guard armory in Joliet. The goal, prosecutors say, was to kill as many as 150 people at the facility.
After dropping his cousin off at Chicago's Midway International Airport on March 25, 2015, Jonas Edmonds went to his cousin's home and collected National Guard uniforms that he planned to wear as a disguise during the armory attack. Hasan Edmonds, filings say, instructed Jonas to kill high-ranking officers first.
Agents arrested Hasan Edmonds at the airport and detained Jonas Edmonds at his home shortly thereafter.
Under plea agreements, Hasan Edmonds pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. Jonas Edmonds pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and lying to federal agents.
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