Heather Elizabeth Coffman's Islamic State Posts Bring Arrest

A Virginia woman, Heather Elizabeth Coffman, was arrested for aiding the Islamic State by federal authorities who claimed she lied to agents about her involvement with the terrorist group.

Coffman, 29, of Henrico County, allegedly advocated for Islamic militants on social media. Her lawyer described the case as "Facebook going badly."

According to CNN, court documents show the FBI built their case against Coffman through interviews with her and from her social media posts supporting ISIS. Prosecutors noted some of her most controversial posts in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia.

As one example, authorities charged that under the name Ubeida Ametova Coffman listed her "work and education" on her Facebook account as "jihad for Allah's sake," according to CNN. Authorities charged that Coffman then uploaded an image with the captions "We are all ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and Sham" and also posted a picture of armed men and the black flag of ISIS, emblazoned with the words "Virtues of the Mujahideen."

The Washington Post reported it was not clear if Coffman had any means to contact anyone within the terrorist group or how her interest in the group came about.

"As far as I know she hasn't traveled anywhere," said attorney Mark Henry Schmidt about his client, who lives with her parents and cares for her 7-year-old child. "Her connections with the outside world would be on the Internet. I imagine you can get into trouble on the Internet, but I imagine you can also think a lot more’s going on than really is. If nothing else, this is certainly a cautionary tale about the Internet."

According to CNN, authorities charged in their complaint that an undercover agent posing as an ISIS sympathizer regularly met with Coffman in an attempt to see if she had a recruitment network. Coffman told the undercover agent, according to the federal complaint, that she had such a connection but became frustrated when the relationship ended.

Coffman is scheduled to appear in court again on Wednesday after appearing at an initial hearing in federal court in Richmond on Monday.

Related Stories:

• FBI Most Wanted Suspect, Ahmad Abousamra, Running ISIS Social Media?
  
• Pope Francis ISIS Threat Denied by Vatican, But Security Tightens