• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Virginia Muslima charged with attempting to support the Islamic State

Nov 17, 2014 6:31 pm By Robert Spencer

Mideast_Syria_Islamic_State_-0bc3f-535Heather Elizabeth Coffman appears to be a convert to Islam, although that is not stated in this article. Thus she becomes just the latest in a long string of examples of the fact that Muslim leaders in the U.S. are either unable or unwilling to teach converts why they should avoid this understanding of Islam that Muslims in the U.S. ostensibly reject.

“Virginia woman is accused of attempting to support Islamic State,” by Matt Zapotosky, Washington Post, November 17, 2014:

Federal authorities have arrested and charged a Henrico County woman who they say wrote Facebook posts supportive of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham and offered to help someone join up with the terrorist group in Syria, court documents show.

Heather Elizabeth Coffman, 29, is charged with making a false statement regarding an offense involving international or domestic terrorism. Coffman, it seems, was caught in a sting and unknowingly offered to help an undercover FBI agent connect someone with ISIS in Syria, according to a federal affidavit. Authorities say she lied to investigators who were looking into her support for ISIS.

The case seems to be another example of the Islamic State’s robust presence on social media and the influence it is having on Americans. Only two months ago, a 19-year-old from suburban Denver pleaded guilty to trying to help the terrorist organization after she tried to board a flight to get to Turkey. She reportedly was trying to connect with a man she met online. And last month, three other teenaged girls from the Denver area were detained at the airport in Germany and questioned for possibly trying to join ISIS. A school official said they were victims of an “online predator.”

It is unclear what inspired Coffman’s interest in ISIS, or whether she possessed the means to connect anyone with the group.

Mark Henry Schmidt, Coffman’s defense attorney, said the young woman was born and raised in the U.S., lived with her parents and cared for her 7-year-old child. He said that he was unaware of any tangible, foreign connection, and at first blush, the case seemed to him one of “Facebook going badly.”

“As far as I know she hasn’t traveled anywhere. Her connections with the outside world would be on the Internet,” Schmidt said. “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 the FBI affidavit, Coffman told an undercover agent that she had previously arranged for a man she termed her “husband” to travel to Turkey so he could meet with ISIS facilitators and eventually make his way into Syria. She described “concrete steps” she had taken to achieve that end, according to the affidavit. But Coffman and the man soon separated, and he backed out of the plan, according to the affidavit.

The FBI’s investigation of Coffman seemed to begin in April, as agents took note of her pro-ISIS postings on Facebook and sought search warrants to access her various accounts. On June 23, for example, Coffman posted two images with the text, “WE ARE ALL ISIS, ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ & SHAM,” according to the affidavit. On June 28, when someone asked why Coffman was posting in favor of the terrorist group, she responded, “I love ISIS!” according to the affidavit.

Coffman later wrote about persuading her sister to develop an interest in the group and said, “My dad is a little angry because I got her into all this jihad stuff,” according to the affidavit. A woman who identified herself as Coffman’s mother declined to comment Monday.

Good for dad.

An FBI agent posing as someone with views similar to Coffman’s made contact with her in July and, some months later, told her about an associate who wanted to travel to Syria to fight with ISIS, according to the affidavit. Coffman offered to help the associate connect with an ISIS facilitator and even claimed to be able to verify the facilitator’s legitimacy, according to the affidavit….

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: converts to Islam, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) Tagged With: featured


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. awake says

    Nov 17, 2014 at 6:46 pm

    “If nothing else, this is certainly a cautionary tale about the internet.”

    Uh-huh. Sure.

    • PJG says

      Nov 17, 2014 at 7:52 pm

      Yes, that was what jumped out at me, too. The internet. If someone can read about ISIS and think it’s okay, it’s not where he reads it that’s the problem, the problem is in his head.

    • Coolio says

      Nov 18, 2014 at 3:52 am

      There’s an open Internet vortex here on Al Jazeera discussing designation of CAIR as a terrorist group by UAE. Please join me on the comments; I would appreciate support.

      http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/11/egypt-students-military-court-20141116192057805603.html

      • Coolio says

        Nov 18, 2014 at 4:46 am

        Ha, that comment stayed up for about 5 minutes!

    • mortimer says

      Nov 18, 2014 at 7:49 am

      Consider yourself stung, Heather. Islam teaches violence against disbelievers solely because they are disbelievers. It’s illegal to solicit murder. That is the lesson, all you aspiring jihadists.

  2. abad says

    Nov 17, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    Iraq is a much better place for Muslims converts to be, not the USA

    • mortimer says

      Nov 18, 2014 at 7:51 am

      Yes. They will be sent wearing bombs to the front then detonated by local Arabs who think of them as untrustworthy and expendable. The gullibility of the Western volunteer jihadists is beyond breathtaking.

  3. jewdog says

    Nov 17, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    Letting people like this go abroad to help ISIS, but not come back, would be beneficial; it would get rid of dangerous troublemakers and idiots. The great Geert Wilders is strongly in favor of the go-and-be-gone policy for Holland.

  4. Champ says

    Nov 17, 2014 at 8:15 pm

    Heather Elizabeth Coffman appears to be a convert to Islam

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    A convert to evil islam?! Wow Heather has chosen *most* unwisely–tsk, tsk!

    • JOHN SPIELMAN says

      Nov 18, 2014 at 6:55 am

      she’s just another ISIS whore wannabe

      • Champ says

        Nov 18, 2014 at 11:26 am

        Exactly, John! This woman sold her soul for EVIL islam …

        “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” — Romans 12:9

        A wiser choice would be Jesus, who is the “good” shepherd …

        Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” — John 10:11

        The only thing evil islam brings is hell on earth.

  5. citycat says

    Nov 17, 2014 at 9:19 pm

    Evil Islam is an unnatural beast though the muslims are humans
    A beast will never be human

  6. Montedoro44 says

    Nov 18, 2014 at 12:47 am

    “. . . all this jihad stuff . . .”

    I love ISIS! I do! It’s so cool!
    That’s something I heard once in school.
    OMG! It’s a fad
    And so totally rad!
    Up the caliphate! Chill, Muslims rule!

  7. Charli Main says

    Nov 18, 2014 at 2:09 am

    I wonder if all these “Jihadi Jane” western converts running to join their new masters in Syria, have to have their clitorises hacked off to show that they are now good little slaves of Allah??????????

  8. Troy says

    Nov 18, 2014 at 7:15 am

    This Virginia muslima seems that she needs a psychology help. She is sick woman.

    • mortimer says

      Nov 18, 2014 at 8:11 am

      Islamic Stockholm syndrome. Excited by being near murderers.

      • mortimer says

        Nov 18, 2014 at 8:14 am

        “It is impossible – for any human being to read the biography of Muhammad and believe in it and yet emerge a psychologically and mentally healthy person.” –Dr.Wafa Sultan, psychiatrist

    • Mirren10 says

      Nov 18, 2014 at 5:08 pm

      ”This Virginia muslima seems that she needs a psychology help.”

      Psychological help is for people who suffer from genuine mental illness. It is wasted on the congenitally evil, which is what this bitch has proved herself to be.

      Anyone who supports the IS, and offers to help people join up with them, is not mentally ill, they are evil, pure and simple.

      I do wish people would stop suggesting these people are mentally ill, or in need of some sort of help. They are simply evil people who love evil, and have made a conscious choice to forward it.

  9. Hummer says

    Nov 18, 2014 at 12:08 pm

    Has the muslim in the WH pardoned her yet?

  10. Wolfenberry says

    Nov 18, 2014 at 5:03 pm

    This girl clearly has mental problems. And, if she’s just been honest with investigators, we probably would not be reading about her today. The only crime she has committed, probably, was lying to investigators during the course of an investigation. I doubt they could or would have charged her with facilitating terrorism– apparently the only “contacts” or ability to forge contacts with terrorists existed only in her addled brain. And apparently she’s never even been to the Middle East, nor outside of the country. She would have been persuaded to enter mental therapy, at worst, if only she’d been honest. What a moron.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • gravenimage on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with
  • James Lincoln on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • revereridesagain on Audio: Robert Spencer on Muslim Brotherhood influence in a Biden/Harris administration
  • SKA on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • Eva on Chief Rabbi of UK Says It’s ‘Alarming’ That 44% of Muslims Are Anti-Semitic

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.