US Army private pleads guilty to trying to help ISIS kill soldiers in the Middle East

A 22-year-old former Army soldier has pleaded guilty to trying to help ISIS attack and kill American soldiers in the Middle East.

Cole James Bridges from Stow, Ohio, also known as Cole Gonzales, faces 40 years in prison for ‘attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization’ and ‘attempting to murder U.S. military service members.’ 

Bridges, who was arrested in January 2021, pleaded guilty on Wednesday before US District Judge Lewis J Liman.

The active-duty soldier was arrested in Georgia after speaking to an undercover FBI agent he thought was a member of ISIS online about plots to blow up New York City‘s 9/11 Memorial and attack service members in the Middle East.

US Attorney Damian Williams said Wednesday: ‘As he admitted in court today, Cole Bridges attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his fellow soldiers in service of ISIS and its violent ideology.’ 

Cole James Bridges, 22, aka, Cole Gonzales, pled guilty on Wednesday for helping ISIS attack and kill American soldiers in the Middle East  (pictured above) 

According to the complaint, just months after joining the US Army in 2019, Bridges began researching online propaganda promoting jihadists

Bridges allegedly provided the bogus ISIS contact with detailed instructions on tactics and manuals and advice about attacking the 9/11 Memorial in New York City 

Williams called Bridges’ acts a betrayal of his country and thanked prosecutors and the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force.

‘Bridges’s traitorous conduct was a betrayal of his comrades and his country. Thanks to the incredible work of the prosecutors of this Office and our partners at the FBI and the U.S. Army, Bridges’s malign intent was revealed, and he now awaits sentencing for his crimes, he added.

Bridges was charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and attempting to murder U.S. military service members, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. 

A message that was purportedly sent by Bridges to the undercover agent showed a flag often used by ISIS fighters

Bridges joined the US Army in September 2019 and was assigned as a cavalry scout at Fort Stewart.

Before his arrest, the then 20-year-old was with the Third Infantry Division out of Georgia when he thought he was communicating with ISIS online about the terrorism plots.

Unbeknownst to Bridges, a federal agent was in on the chat as Bridges provided detailed instructions on tactics and manuals and advice about attacking the memorial and other targets in New York City, Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for Manhattan federal prosecutors said in 2021.

Around the same time, Bridges allegedly began researching online propaganda promoting jihadists, and expressed his support for ISIS and jihad on social media.

In October 2020, Bridges began communicating with the undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS supporter in contact with ISIS fighters in the Middle East.

During these exchanges, according to the US Justice Department, Bridges ‘expressed his frustration with the U.S. military and his desire to aid ISIS.’

Bridges then allegedly began to supply the undercover agent with instructions for purported ISIS fighters on how to attack US forces serving in the Middle East, and went so far as to diagram specific military maneuvers to maximize the lethality of the attacks. 

Bridges allegedly sent his contact videos showing himself in a tactical mask and body armor, and standing in front of the ISIS flag while making a gesture symbolic of support for the terrorist organization

In the weeks before his arrest, Bridges sent the bogus ISIS supporter video of himself in body armor standing before a flag often used by ISIS fighters and making a gesture symbolic of support for the terrorist organization. 

He later sent a second video in which he used a voice manipulator to narrate a propaganda speech in support of the anticipated ambush by ISIS on US troops, according to the federal prosecutors.

Bridges ‘further provided advice about the best way to fortify an ISIS encampment to repel an attack by U.S. Special Forces, including by wiring certain buildings with explosives to kill the U.S. troops,’ according to the Justice Department. 

Bridges is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Liman on November 2, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. 

The case will be handed by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg and Matthew Hellman are in charge of the prosecution, with help from Trial Attorney Michael Dittoe of the Counterterrorism unit.