Tennessee woman pleads guilty to supporting the Hayat Tahrir Al Sham terrorist organization

A woman pleaded guilty in U. S. District Court Tuesday after concealing material support and resources intended to be provided to a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Georgianna A.M. Giampietro, 36, was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2019. They charged her with attempting to provide material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Officials said FBI agents arrested her at her home in Sparta, and she remains in custody.

Court documents showed that Giampietro admitted having conversations with an undercover agent in September 2018. The agent expressed interest in traveling to Syria to join Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

In addition, the agent told Giampietro that her husband had sworn an oath of allegiance to HTS and that he intended to fight on their behalf.

Court documents also showed how Giampietro had provided instruction and advice to the undercover agent on how to travel to Syria in order to avoid detection by law enforcement, including actions that the undercover agent and her husband should undertake before making the trip which included severing ties with other persons 6-8 months prior to travel, acquiring new phones, and to go through Turkey before entering Syria.

Giampietro told officials she was aware at the time that HTS is a designated terrorist group and she believed her husband and the undercover agent were going to Syria to work for them.

Giampietro faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced on May 6, 2022.

Source: MSN