A U.S. Army soldier from Ohio has pleaded guilty to helping ISIS militants ambush and kill U.S. soldiers in the Middle East, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York.
Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzales, faces up to 40 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder U.S. military service members.
After joining the Army in 2019 and being assigned as a cavalry scout in Georgia, he began researching online propaganda promoting jihadists and expressed his support for ISIS. In 2020, he began communicating with an undercover agent posting as an ISIS militant.
Bridges provided the agent with "training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City," prosecutors said.
"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," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York said in a statement. "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."
Read the full press release here.