CHANDLER, Ariz. — A Chandler woman has been sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for attempting to use a stimulus check allocated during the pandemic to support al Qaeda terrorists.
Jill Marie Jones, 37, was sentenced this week in an Arizona courtroom after she pleaded guilty to concealing funds intended for acts of terrorism, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of Arizona.
Back in 2020, Jones started communicating online with an undercover FBI official who was posing as a member of al Qaeda, the terrorist organization behind the Sept. 11 attacks.
Before making contact with this undercover official, Jones had been posting anti-American content on social media. Jones had told the undercover official she wanted to travel to Afghanistan and support al Qaeda.
By May 2020, Jones offered to send the stimulus money that the federal government was dolling out to support Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[I]t would be most ironic the money from that goes for this . . . They give us free money, and I turn it around on them,” the defendant wrote in a message.
Prosecutors said Jones visited a retail store and bought a $500 prepaid credit card with the stimulus money she had received. She then sent the card's information to the person she believed to be a member of al Qaeda.
The defendant believed the funds would be used to purchase rifle scopes to use against American soldiers. Jones was arrested at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport as she was attempting to fly overseas.
After completing her prison sentence, Jones will be placed on supervised release for 25 years.