The US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York announced it has charged 35-year-old Jessica Bowie with providing material support for terrorism. According to authorities, the woman pledged allegiance to the terrorist group ISIS and was preparing an explosion at the State Capitol.
Investigators believe a resident of Albany, the capital of New York state, was radicalized on the Internet. The head of the FBI office in the city, Craig Tremaroli, noted that agents were able to record how Bowie went on reconnaissance to the Capitol at least five times. The woman took dozens of photographs of the government building and also recorded audio of the ISIS oath. Her written version was also found during the woman’s arrest.
The agent in charge of the case, Joshua Parker, noted in the testimony attached to the text of the indictment that Bowie, under various nicknames on social networks, spread “anti-American messages” and expressed support for terrorism, including the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Because of this, her accounts were regularly blocked.
According to him, the woman converted to Islam about five years ago and has since used the name Aisha Seif. On social networks, she also reported in Arabic that she plans to subsequently leave for territories in the Middle East that remain under the control of the ISIS group.
In July, an FBI agent contacted a woman posing as a member of the group, and in a conversation with him, she began to share plans to blow up the Capitol in Albany in order to “blow out the brains of infidels” who “are taking the laws into their own hands against the will of Allah.” By the way, New York legislators have been on vacation since June.
Bowie was arrested on August 19 when she met with several undercover FBI agents in a car. They, under the guise of ISIS supporters, gave her fake weapons, as well as a fake explosive device, allegedly assembled from materials that she had previously purchased at the Home Depot hardware store. In the correspondence, they also discussed plans to disguise the bomb as a DoorDash food delivery.
During the first interrogation, the woman waived her Miranda rights to remain silent and not incriminate herself. The arrested woman complained that she would now spend “the rest of her life” in prison.
“For financial support they get up to 20 years in prison, I already looked for this on Google before. I know I’m going to jail,” prosecutors quote Bowie in the indictment.
