Two Illinois men were arrested Wednesday for conspiring and attempting to support the Islamic State (ISIS).
The men — Joseph D. Jones, 35 and Edward Schimenti, 35 — allegedly thought they were helping out an ISIS supporter, but the man instead was an FBI informant.
Jones, who went by “Yusuf Abdulhaqq,” and Schimenti, who went by “Abdul Wali,” allegedly met two undercover FBI agents and the informant in the fall of 2015. According to a criminal complaint, the two men professed support for ISIS, gave the informant phones thought to be used for explosives overseas and drove the informant to Chicago’s O’Hare airport thinking he was going to travel to Syria to fight.
The criminal complaint also stated that Schimenti said he wanted to see the ISIS flag “on top of the White House.” Both men are from Zion, Illinois and are U.S. citizens. So far in 2017, four individuals have been arrested by the FBI for supporting ISIS.