SEATTLE — A 22-year-old Seattle man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison after being arrested while trying to board a flight to join the Islamic State group last year.
Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams was arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as he checked in for a flight to Cairo and later pleaded guilty to one count of providing support to a foreign terrorist organization.
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour imposed a four-year sentence to be followed by 15 years of supervised release. It was far below the 15-year prison term sought by prosecutors; the judge cited Williams’ “history of mental health difficulties,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
“Mr. Williams persisted in his plans to join a terrorist organization and commit acts of violence, despite intervention from his family, his school, members of his mosque, and from the FBI,” U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said. “Indeed, he repeatedly stated his intention to commit an act of terror here at home if he could not travel overseas. …It will be critically important that he be closely supervised after he is released from prison.”