Albany woman arrested for ISIS-inspired plot on N.Y. capitol
by Lisa Hornung · UPIAug. 20 (UPI) -- An Albany, N.Y., woman was charged Thursday with supporting a terror group after allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired plot to attack the New York State capitol building.
Federal officials said that Jessica Bowie, 35, told a confidential source that she supported ISIS and was looking for help on how to make explosives, according to a criminal complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
Bowie was expected to make an appearance Thursday afternoon on a charge of supporting a designated foreign terror organization.
The complaint said that Bowie converted to Islam five years ago and had made several social media accounts under an honorific Islamic name.
Several accounts she allegedly created sent messages expressing support for terrorism between May and July, the complaint said. It also said that she communicated with a confidential FBI source who was posing as an ISIS facilitator between July 16 and Aug. 17.
She allegedly told the source that she wanted to help attack her state capitol, the complaint said, and she wanted to "harm the enemies of god." She allegedly said that if she escapes after the attack, she planned to return for future attacks.
She allegedly bought materials to make a bomb at a hardware store on Aug. 5 and plotted with the informants for the next two weeks, according to the complaint.
The informants allegedly met with Bowie on Wednesday and gave her an inert explosive device and a non-working handgun along with instructions on how to detonate the explosive, the complaint said.
She allegedly told the informant: "I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting," a message included in the complaint said.
Bowie allegedly told two other sources that she wanted to attack the building on a day where the most senators would be there. When they asked her why she chose the state capitol, Bowie allegedly said, "Ideally it would be the White House with the president, but like, that's an even harder job."
They allegedly asked her if it would bother her if other people were killed, including Muslims.
"I'd say it definitely bothers me, and I know I'm going to hear about the things after - what's going to bother me, especially if there's a Muslim, if there's children, pregnant women," Bowie allegedly responded. She said she hoped Allah would forgive her, the complaint said.
She was arrested by the FBI soon after.
When the agents interviewed her, she allegedly said, "There's no helping me, you guys know enough, there's no helping me, I'm ... going to prison for the rest of my life," according to the complaint. "Material support is up to 20 years in prison, I already Googled it before, I know I'm going to jail."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul thanked the FBI and local police for their work in a statement Thursday.
"Earlier this year, amid a rise in political violence and threats against public officials, we took steps to strengthen security at the state capitol and across state government," Hochul said in a statement.
"While there is no immediate threat at this time, we will continue working closely with our law enforcement partners to protect New Yorkers and keep our communities safe."