Wisconsin man pleads guilty to trying to join Islamic State
MILWAUKEE _ A 34-year-old Madison, Wis., man has been convicted of trying to offer his services to the Islamic State in 2014.
Joshua Van Haften pleaded guilty in federal court in Madison on Thursday to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. Attorney John W. Vaudreuil announced.
Van Haften had been charged in 2014 after he went to Turkey and tried to cross into Syria. He had posted online that he had taken an oath of loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), often referred to as simply the Islamic State, or ISIS, for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
"The only thing that matters to me is joining my brothers for the war against America (sic) liars," Van Haften wrote.
Van Haften never made it to Syria and was arrested by immigration authorities in Turkey. In May 2015, he was sent back to the United States, arrested upon his arrival at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and has remained in custody. He now faces up to 15 years in prison at his sentencing Feb. 27.
_Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
