Cole Bridges, a former U.S. Army soldier, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Friday for his attempt to provide support to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, Gothamist reported.
Prosecutors contend Bridges not only suggested potential targets in New York City, but that he used his military training to coordinate an ISIS attack on U.S. soldiers stationed in the Middle East, the report said.
The person Bridges spoke to, however, was an undercover FBI agent, not an ISIS supporter, as Bridges initially thought.
Bridges, 24, pleaded guilty last year to charges of attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder U.S. service members, the report said.
“Today’s sentence makes clear 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,” Damien Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a statement.
According to the outlet, Bridges landed on the FBI’s radar after the agency uncovered social media posts and online searches appearing to support ISIS. An undercover agent began communicating with Bridges in 2020, posing as a female ISIS supporter.
Bridges was also handed an additional 10 years of supervised release, the report said.
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