A Denver woman has been arrested while attempting to go to Syria to engage in violent jihad, according to court documents made public late Wednesday.
Shannon Maureen Conley, 19, was arrested in April at Denver International Airport trying to board a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, via Germany, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado. Federal prosecutors say that Conley was headed to Adana, Turkey, and hoped to meet someone known to her as “Y.M.” who wanted to marry her and help her join up with terrorists in Syria.
Church staff of Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada first discovered clues of Conley’s scheme.
“Authorities began investigating Conley on Nov. 5, 2013, when the pastor at Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada called local police and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to report a teen had been spotted suspiciously taking notes at the church’s main campus at 6120 Ward Road on several Sundays at October, according to a federal affidavit supporting the criminal complaint,” reports ABC 7.
FBI agents also contend Conley’s luggage contained items related to terrorism and enemies of the U.S.
“Agents found several CDs and DVDs labeled ‘Anwar al-Awlaki,’ a senior Al Qaeda leader and recruiter who was killed by a CIA-led U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011. Agents also found a folder with materials about providing first aid in the field. The teen was also carrying a list of contacts, including phone numbers for a person whose name was blacked out in the affidavit.”
A federal official said FBI agents met with her and her parents, told them they were aware of her communications and urged her not to go. “But she was determined,” the official said.
The parents told agents that, “Conley believed she, as a Muslim, needed to marry young and be confrontational in her support of Islam. She conceded her knowledge of Islam was based solely on her own research that she conducted on the Internet,” according to the complaint.
Conley is officially charged with provision and attempted provision of material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization — “specifically the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (‘ISIS’)” according to the court documents. U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Jeff Dorschner confirmed that Conley is being held without bail at an area county jail although she is technically in federal custody.
Kaye Wonderhouse - Catherine "Kaye" Wonderhouse, a proud descendant of the Wunderhaus family is the Colorado Correspondent who will add more coverage, interviews and reports from this midwest area.
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