A woman from Sparta, Tennessee pled guilty to “Concealment of Material Support and Resources Intended to be Provided to a Foreign Terrorist Organization,” U.S. Attorney Mark H. Wildasin for the Middle District of Tennessee announced in a Tuesday statement. Georgianna A.M. Giampietro was indicted by a federal grand jury in August of 2019 after she was charged with “attempting to provide material support to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
“Protecting the United States from terrorist attacks is the FBI’s number one priority,” said Special Agent in Charge Douglas M. Korneski of the FBI Memphis Field Office. “This case once again demonstrates the FBI’s dedication to vigorously pursue those who provide material support to terrorist organizations, and hold them accountable for their conspiratorial actions. I am proud of the personnel who worked countless hours to protect the community, and I want to thank all of the agencies that participate in the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force. Together, we combine our resources to identify and disrupt threats to protect our community.”
According to court documents, the statement said, Giampietro admitted in 2018 she had conversations with an undercover agent who expressed interest in traveling to Syria to join the terrorist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS). The undercover agent told Giampietro “her husband swore an oath of allegiance to HTS and that he intended to fight on behalf of HTS.”
Giampietro then instructed the undercover agent how to travel to Syria in order to avoid detection by law enforcement, and included actions the agent and her husband should take before making the trip. She also offered to “communicate with her contacts on their behalf to assist them in safely traveling to Syria to join HTS,” and then spoke with an individual she knew could assist the agent and her husband in joining.
Giampietro provided the agent with her contact’s information, knowing HTS was a designated terrorist organization, believed the agent and her husband intended to travel to Syria to work for HTS, and intended “the undercover agent and her husband would provide funds to [her contact] who in turn would provide funds to HTS, thereby providing material support to HTS disguised as a charitable contribution.”
Authorities say Giampietro used encrypted social media to communicate with the undercover agent and her contact, and sometimes self-destructive timers to erase the conversations she had so they could not be recovered after a period of time.
Georgianna Giampietro faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney notes. Sentencing is slated for May 6.
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Morgan Nicole Veysey is a reporter for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
