(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A disgraced former U.S. serviceman has been sentenced after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS in a failed plot to kill his fellow soldiers in the Middle East.
Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzalez, will serve 13 years in federal prison after being caught in conversations with an undercover FBI official about helping ISIS.
The 24-year-old joined the U.S. Army in September 2019 but had already consumed online propaganda promoting jihadists and their extremist ideology, the DOJ announced Friday.
“Cole Bridges used his U.S. Army training to pursue a horrifying goal: the brutal murder of his fellow service members in a carefully plotted ambush,” said Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Today, Pfc. Cole Bridges was sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, and attempting to murder U.S. military service members, based on his efforts to assist ISIS to attack and kill U.S. soldiers. pic.twitter.com/2yQXQt8REv
— Army Counterintelligence Command (ACIC) (@Real_ArmyCI) October 11, 2024
Williams explained that Bridges plotted to attack the soldiers he was sworn to protect and eagerly offered assistance to individuals he believed were members of ISIS to carry out the attack.
“This is a betrayal of the worst order,” Williams added. “Today’s sentence makes clear that that this Office—along with our partners in law enforcement and the U.S. military—will work tirelessly to bring to justice those who, like Bridges, seek to harm members of our Armed Forces.”
According to the indictment, Bridges taught ISIS militants military maneuvers designed to maximize casualties in future attacks on U.S. servicemen. He also advised them on how to defend against U.S. Special Forces ambushes.
In January 2021, Bridges sent the undercover FBI agent a video of himself in military uniform, standing in front of an ISIS flag and making a gesture symbolic of support for the terrorist group.
In addition to his 13-year prison sentence, Bridges will face 10 years of supervised release.
