Cole Bridges, a 24-year old man from Stow, Ohio, has been sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release 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 the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to attack and kill U.S. soldiers in the Middle East,” the DOJ announced Friday.
Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzales, 24, of Stow, Ohio, was sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release 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 the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to attack and kill U.S. soldiers in the Middle East.
Bridges pleaded guilty to terrorism charges on June 14, 2023. According to court documents, Bridges joined the U.S. Army in approximately September 2019 and was assigned as a cavalry scout in the Third Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. Before he joined the Army, beginning in at least 2019, Bridges began researching and consuming online propaganda promoting jihadists and their violent ideology, and began to express his support for ISIS and jihad on social media. In or about October 2020, approximately one year after joining the Army, Bridges began communicating with an FBI online covert employee (the OCE), who was posing as an ISIS supporter in contact with ISIS fighters in the Middle East. During these communications, Bridges expressed his frustration with the U.S. military and his desire to aid ISIS. Bridges then provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City. Bridges also provided the OCE with portions of a U.S. Army training manual and guidance about military combat tactics, with the understanding that the materials would be used by ISIS in future attack planning.