Colo. woman must aid FBI as part of terrorism plea deal

Colo. woman must aid FBI as part of terrorism plea deal

Associated Press

DENVER

A 19-year-old Colorado woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to trying to help the militant Islamic State group under a plea deal in the terrorism case that requires her to give authorities information about other Americans with the same intentions.

Shannon Conley, wearing a black and brown headscarf over her striped jail jumpsuit, entered the plea in federal court to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. She could face up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced in January.

Conley, a nurse’s aide from Arvada, said nothing in court, aside from acknowledging that she understood the terms of the plea that says she must divulge information about possible co-conspirators.

Prosecutors said they will seek a lighter sentence if she cooperates.

After the hearing, Conley’s public defender, Robert Pepin, said she has been horrified by the atrocities committed by the Islamic State group since her arrest and offered her condolences to those who have been caught up in its “slaughter and oppression.”

“The fact that she was arrested may very well have saved her,” Pepin said of his client, whom he referred to as Halima, the name she adopted after her conversion to Islam.

The FBI first became aware of her growing interest in extremism last November after Conley alarmed employees of an Arvada church by wandering around and taking notes on the layout of the campus, court documents say.

The church, Faith Bible Chapel, was the scene of a 2007 shooting in which a man killed two missionary workers.

Agents with the Joint Terrorism Task Force then met several times with Conley over eight months to discourage her and suggest she explore humanitarian work instead.