(CNN) — After seven months of investigation and undercover work, federal officials have arrested a Virginia woman and accused her of lying to federal agents about involvement with the terrorist group ISIS.
Heather Coffman, 29, of Henrico County, is charged with making a materially false statement or representation regarding an offense involving international and domestic terrorism. Authorities said they built their case against Coffman with information from a series of undercover interviews and inflammatory social media posts.
Coffman first caught the attention of the FBI through her Facebook activity, according to a criminal complaint filed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The complaint details many of Coffman’s controversial Facebook posts and interactions.
Investigators say that on June 23, using the name Ubeida Ametova (one of her many online aliases), Coffman listed her “work and education” on her Facebook account as “jihad for Allah’s sake.” Per the charges, she posted an image with the captions “We are all ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq and Sham” and also posted a picture of armed men and the black flag of ISIS, emblazoned with the words “Virtues of the Mujahideen.”
Authorities say that on July 8, using a second Facebook account, Coffman reposted the same images from her first account in addition to a picture of the ISIS flag surrounded by praying men armed with AK-47s.
Coffman’s Facebook activity prompted the FBI to obtain a search warrant for the account on August 4, leading investigators to discover a history of correspondence about ISIS. The criminal complaint details some of these exchanges, in which Coffman allegedly defends ISIS and rebukes those who criticize the terrorist group. She writes, “I know…it’s all Zionist propaganda though! If we can rid the world of them…then the world will be a better and peaceful place.” Additionally, investigators say that Coffman took credit for attempting to recruit her sister when she wrote, “she know ISIS because I told her about them and got her into liking them lol” and “my dad is a little angry because I got her into all this jihad stuff.”
Investigators said they also discovered a man whom Coffman claimed was her husband. According to Facebook communications detailed in the complaint, this man told Coffman that he hoped their future son would be “Mujaheeden,” and Coffman agreed, expressing her support for “whatever you want to do.” Days later, as shown in the charges, Coffman told her “husband” that she hates gays and Zionists and “they should all die.” On July 29, she warned him not to post pro-ISIS statuses on Facebook, and suggested that “the NSA has already seen it.” (read more)