{"id":28662,"date":"2020-03-05T17:40:58","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T17:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/05\/former-soldier-sentenced-for-attempting-to-provide-support-to-isis\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:44:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:44:31","slug":"former-soldier-sentenced-for-attempting-to-provide-support-to-isis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2020\/03\/05\/former-soldier-sentenced-for-attempting-to-provide-support-to-isis\/","title":{"rendered":"Former soldier sentenced for attempting to provide support to ISIS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A man who served in the U.S. Army<\/a> for less than a year was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison without parole after he pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group<\/a>, according to a judgment filed Wednesday in Missouri Western District Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Lorenzo Hester Jr., 28, was sentenced for his role in making preparations to launch a terrorist attack with persons he believed were ISIS members but were actually undercover law enforcement employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHester attempted to provide material support to ISIS by assisting in what he believed would be a murderous terrorist bombing and gunfire attack,\u201d an FBI criminal complaint reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confidential sources reported Hester to the FBI in mid-2016 after he posted pictures of various weapons, including one of a handgun and a knife next to the Quran, and after he changed his social media profile picture for two of his accounts to an image of the Black Flag of Tawhid, a banner that was co-opted by ISIS. Hester posted on social media under the alias \u201cRabbani Junaid Muhammad,” according to the complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Undercover FBI agents met with Hester in person on many occasions and communicated with him over social media and through encrypted messaging apps<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Online, Hester told agents that the he wanted a \u201cglobal jihad,” and suggested \u201chitting\u201d the U.S. government \u201chard,\u201d while noting that it would not be \u201ca one man job,” the complaint reads. He brought up potential targets, to include \u201cmilitary bases,\u201d and spoke of the perceived ease with which one could access those installations. Hester identified one Missouri base by name, according to the FBI complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hester specified that \u201c[a]ny government building in DC would get attention of everyone,” the filings read. Citing his brief enlistment in the U.S. Army, Hester also told an undercover agent that he was \u201ctrained really well with assault weapons\u201d and said his favorite firearm was the AK-47 rifle.<\/p>\n\n\n\t