(WKBN) – A former soldier from Stow was sentenced Friday in federal court for attempting to assist what he thought was ISIS in killing U.S. service members.
Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzales, 24, was sentenced to 14 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Investigators say Gonzales tried to help what he thought was 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 in June 2023.
According to court documents, Bridges joined the U.S. Army in September 2019 and was assigned as a cavalry scout at Fort Stewart in 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 October 2020 and after about a year in the Army, Bridges began communicating with an undercover FBI employee 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.