National Guardsman, cousin arrested in Illinois, accused of supporting ISIS

An Army National Guard member and his cousin have each been charged with one count of conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Spc. Hasan Edmonds, 22, was arrested Wednesday night as he tried to board a plane from Chicago Midway International Airport to Cairo, where he planned to join ISIS, federal officials said. His cousin, 29-year-old Jonas "Yunus" Edmonds, was also arrested at his home in Aurora, Illinois, in connection to an alleged plot to attack the U.S. military facility in northern Illinois where Hasan Edmonds trained.

An undercover FBI informant posing as an ISIS fighter living abroad sent a friend request to Hasan Edmonds on Facebook late last year, CNN reports. In private messages, Hasan Edmonds said he wanted to fight for ISIS along with Jonas Edmonds, and in February said that they were willing to conduct an attack in the United States. Prosecutors say that Jonas Edmonds told the informant he planned to purchase AK-47s and grenades for the attack at the military installation, and would go through with it after his cousin left for Egypt. If they are found guilty, the cousins face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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