A U.S. Army soldier has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempting to aid ISIS in launching a deadly ambush on U.S. troops, according to the Department of Justice.
Cole Bridges, a 24-year-old from 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.” The charges stem from his efforts to assist ISIS in planning attacks on U.S. soldiers in the Middle East, the DOJ announced on Friday.
Bridges pleaded guilty to the terrorism charges on June 14, 2023, and his sentence was delivered this week.
Bridges enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 2019 and was serving as a cavalry scout with the Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Court documents revealed that, prior to joining the Army, Bridges had been consuming online jihadist propaganda and expressing support for ISIS on social media.
In October 2020, about a year after joining the Army, Bridges began communicating with an undercover FBI agent who was posing as an ISIS supporter. The agent was purportedly in contact with ISIS fighters in the Middle East, furthering the investigation that led to Bridges’ arrest.
