A second suspect charged with supporting a terrorist organization pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday.
Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, faces up to 20 years in jail and lifetime probation after pleading to one count of providing material support to the Islamic State after she volunteered her services for the group.
In return, prosecutors agreed to drop two other charges against her.
Young entered her guilty plea before U.S. Judge Sharion Aycock.
A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. Young remains in the custody of U.S. Marshals.
Young and Starkville resident Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, her fiance, were both arrested in August at Golden Triangle Regional Airport. Authorities say they were attempting to fly abroad and join IS fighters in Syria.
The FBI, court documents show, first identified Young on social media in May 2015 after she showed support for the terrorist group and a willingness to travel to its territory.
Investigators posing as IS recruiters interacted with the duo last summer as they talked about their plans to volunteer their skills and services to the growing caliphate, according to court documents.
Young, a Vicksburg native, was a Mississippi State University student.
A factual basis memo released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday states Young offered her experience of working at a MSU analytical laboratory and said she would serve as a medic for wounded soldiers, while Dakhlalla, a MSU graduate, wanted to work with media or as a combatant.
Dakhlalla understood he would take orders from IS leaders, the release states, and Young expressed a desire to swear allegiance to the caliphate.
The two held a Nikkah ceremony — an Islamic wedding — and obtained passports last summer. Young, the release states, then used her mother’s credit card without her permission to purchase two plane tickets to Istanbul, Turkey.
She also left behind incriminating farewell letters that explained both her and Dakhlalla would not return to the U.S.
“Do not alert the authorities. I will contact you soon,” the release states Young wrote. “I am safe. Don’t look for me because you won’t be able to retrieve me if you tried. I am leaving to become a medic. It was all my planning. I found the contacts, made arrangements, planned the departure. I am guilty of what you soon will find out.”
Law enforcement arrested the duo on Aug. 8 at the Golden Triangle Regional Airport before they boarded a flight bound for Atlanta, Georgia.
Young, the release and the FBI’s criminal complaint states, confessed to the plan to travel to Turkey and join IS.
Documents previously released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office state Young converted to Islam last year after the couple began dating in 2014. She began to watch pro-IS videos and “seemed to be developing a hatred for people she deemed immoral.”
Tuesday’s release also states Young used Twitter to post numerous links to IS propaganda, expressed happiness toward the July 2015 attack against U.S. Marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and downloaded the IS guide to migrating to the Middle East and at least one issue of Dabiq, the caliphate’s online propaganda magazine.
Dakhlalla also accepted a plea deal and admitted to providing material support for IS earlier this month.
His sentencing hearing is also not yet set.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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