U.S. Army Soldier Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison For Attempting To Assist ISIS To Conduct Deadly Ambush On U.S. Troops

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that COLE BRIDGES, a/k/a “Cole Gonzales,” was sentenced to 14 years in prison 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 pled guilty on June 14, 2023, before U.S. District Judge Lewis J. Liman, who imposed today’s sentence.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “Cole Bridges used his U.S. Army training to pursue a horrifying goal: the brutal murder of his fellow service members in a carefully plotted ambush.  Bridges sought to attack the very soldiers he was entrusted to protect and, making this abhorrent conduct even more troubling, was eager to help people he believed were members of a deadly foreign terrorist organization plan this attack.  This is a betrayal of the worst order.  Today’s sentence makes clear that that this Office—along with our partners in law enforcement and the U.S. military—will work tirelessly to bring to justice those who, like Bridges, seek to harm members of our Armed Forces.”

According to the Complaint, the Indictment, and other documents in the public record, as well as statements made in public court proceedings:

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 a Federal Bureau of Investigation (“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.

In or about December 2020, BRIDGES began to supply the OCE with instructions for the purported ISIS fighters on how to attack U.S. forces in the Middle East.  Among other things, BRIDGES diagrammed specific military maneuvers intended to help ISIS fighters maximize the lethality of future attacks on U.S. troops. BRIDGES also provided advice about the best way to fortify an ISIS encampment to ambush U.S. Special Forces, including by wiring certain buildings with explosives to kill the U.S. troops. Then, in January 2021, BRIDGES provided the OCE with a video of himself in his U.S. Army body armor standing in front of a flag often used by ISIS fighters and making a gesture symbolic of support for ISIS.  Approximately one week later, BRIDGES sent a second video in which BRIDGES, using a voice manipulator, narrated a propaganda speech in support of the anticipated ambush by ISIS on U.S. troops.

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In addition to the prison term, BRIDGES, 24, of Stow, Ohio, was sentenced to 10 years of supervised release.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents from the FBI and detectives from the New York City Police Department, and over 50 other federal, state, and local agencies.  Mr. Williams also thanked U.S. Army Counterintelligence, the FBI Washington Field Office, the FBI Atlanta Field Office and its Savannah Resident Agency, the FBI Cleveland Field Office, the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the U.S. Army Third Infantry Division, and the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division for their assistance.

This prosecution is being handled 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 assistance from Trial Attorney Michael Dittoe of the Counterterrorism Section.