Shannon Conley: 19-Year-Old Colorado Teen Who Wanted To Join ISIS Gets Four Years In Jail


Shannon Conley, the 19-year-old woman from Colorado who was nabbed by the FBI after she attempted to travel to Syria to join ISIS, has been sentenced. According to USA Today, Conley has been sentenced to four years imprisonment by a Denver Federal court judge on Friday.

The Inquisitr had earlier reported how Conley was nabbed by FBI agents at Denver International Airport back in April when she attempted to travel to Germany, and from there to Turkey. Her plan was to eventually reach Syria, where she was supposed to render her services as a nurse. Conley was apparently indoctrinated and brainwashed into joining the ISIS, or ISIL, by an unidentified ISIS fighter who had managed to woo her online. Nearly a year after her arrest, Shannon Conley presented a different face and said she now regrets her decision to do whatever she did last year, according to NPR.

Shannon Conley first caught the attention of the FBI back in 2013 when she had started behaving suspiciously in and around church grounds and surrounding areas in the neighborhood where she lived. On several occasions, Shannon was seen drawing diagrams and taking note of the church surroundings. After people complained about her suspicious actions, the FBI gave her a warning and let her go. However, Shannon had managed to enter the FBI’s watch list, who started a constant vigil over her.

It was due to this vigil that authorities were able to nab Conley before she left the United States. After she was caught, she confessed to authorities that her plan was indeed to travel to Syria, marry her ‘suitor,’ and work as a nurse there. She also seemed heavily influenced by Islamic laws and traditions.

According to the Huffington Post, Shannon Conley, who wore a grey prison jumpsuit and hijab, or headscarf, listened patiently as the case was debated and the judge read out her sentence. In a lengthy statement to the court, Shannon claimed that in the months since her arrest, she has transformed into a different person and now disavows jihad. She pleaded guilty — but at the same time asked the judge to hand her over a lesser sentence. In her statement, Conley read out that she is now “horrified” to see the crimes against humanity that have been perpetrated by the ISIS. She claimed that she was initially unable to understand how violent the organization was. She also thanked the FBI and said they saved her life by not allowing her to board the flight to Syria.

“I am grateful to the FBI for keeping me from traveling to Syria and potentially saving my life… I disavow the radical views I have come to know.”

While Conley faced a five-year prison sentence for her crime, the prosecutors agreed on giving her a lesser term because she had been co-operating with the investigators. Do you think Shannon Conley deserved a tougher sentence?

[Image via CBS Local]

Share this article: Shannon Conley: 19-Year-Old Colorado Teen Who Wanted To Join ISIS Gets Four Years In Jail
More from Inquisitr