American nurse who was arrested for trying to join ISIS set her Facebook profile to 'slave of Allah': Denver teen also wrote that U.S. women dress like s****' after she was seduced by a Syrian militant



Shannon Maureen Conley was arrested at Denver International Airport trying to board a plane to Turkey



Her luggage contained literature about Al Qaeda and CDs labeled 'Anwar Al-Awlaki'



The 19-year-old nurse described herself to investigators as a Muslim convert who was interested in guerrilla warfare

She met a 32-year-old Tunisian man known by initials 'Y.M' online and was planning to travel to Syria and marry him



Suspected ISIS fighter asked for his fiance's father's blessing via Skype



A 19-year-old Denver woman has been arrested on terrorism charges for allegedly plotting to travel to Syria and join an Islamist extremist she had met online and was planning to marry.



Shannon Maureen Conley was taken into custody in April while trying to board a flight to Turkey with the alleged goal of meeting up with members of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria group, also known as ISIS, it was revealed on Wednesday.



According to a criminal complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, Conley conspired to commit an offense against the United States.

When questioned by officials, the teenager freely admitted that she wanted to use her American military training to wage jihad on the U.S., CBS Denver reported.

Shannon Maureen Conley, a 19-year-old from Denver, (pictured in a burka with a friend, right) was arrested after allegedly trying to board a plane and fight alongside an ISIS militant she met online



Conley listed her job as 'Slave of Allah' on her Facebook profile, where she also went by the Muslim name Halima

Her social media posts show that she became increasingly radicalized and angry at her native country in the weeks leading up to her arrest.



On her Facebook page, under the Islamic name Halima, she listed her job as 'Slave to Allah.' She posted a photo on her Pintrest account that appears to show her and a friend wearing burkas that show only their eyes.



On March 27 on her Google+ account she wrote: 'when there are so few mujahideen, is it not our duty to fight regardless of our country of birth and/or residence?'



Next to video posted in April she commented that it shows that 'American women dress like sl**s'

In January when she Al Qaeda propaganda mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in a US drone strike, she wrote: 'May Allah accept his martyrdom.'

After her arrest, Conley told investigators she liked the idea of 'guerrilla warfare because she could do it alone.'

Court papers released Wednesday indicate that Ms Conley told the Joint Terrorism Task Force that she was a Muslim convert.



'If they think I'm a terrorist, I'll give them something to think I am,' the 19-year-old allegedly declared, referring to staffers at a local church where she had been taken classes.

Happier times: Shannon, pictured in a circle, with her mother (bottom center) and three older sisters in 2012 before her conversion to Islam

Conley had met someone known to her as 'Y.M' online who said he wanted to marry her and help her join the ranks of Islamic extremists in Syria, court documents stated.

He suitor apparently was a 32-year-old Tunisian man who claimed to be fighting for ISIS.

FBI agents have become aware of Conley's communication with the foreign national and reached out to the 19-year-old and her parents, John and Ana Conley, urging her not to go to Syria, NBC reported.



But according to a federal official, Conley could not be dissuaded. He added that the 19-year-old suffers from mental problems.



Mr Conley told agents that his daughter described jihad to him as a struggle to help the poor and the downtrodden, but she herself had been plagued by doubts about what was expected of her as a Muslim woman.

'She conceded her knowledge of Islam was based solely on her own research that she conducted on the Internet,' the affidavit said.

According to the charging papers cited by The Denver Channel, Ms Conley was fully aware she was speaking to federal agents when she aired her favorable view of jihad and declared that law enforcement agents are legitimate targets.

Conley is believed to have commented on a YouTube video that 'American women dress like sl**s'

Conley also covered her social media accounts with pictures of mosques and quotes from the Koran

One of them reads: 'But you prefer the worldly life while the hereafter is better and more enduring.'

And on March 17, just a month before she was arrested, she posted a link to a TV report about British women joining jihad in Syria with the words: 'Say something about this'.

Shannon is Facebook friends with both her mother Ana and her father John, which raises questions over how much they knew of her radicalization,

Her Facebook page is a mixture of posts typical of teenage girl - mixed in with those of a committed Muslim.

Her likes include a page called 'niquab is our right' and a group that raises the profile of Sunni Muslim prisoners in Iran.

She has re-posted a link from a pro-Palestinian page called 'Acknowledge Apartheid Exists' which is about a Palestinian goat farmer who was supposedly shot by Israeli troops.

A quote she has re-posted reads: 'Israel occupies Palestine for 47 years and no-one bats an eye. Russia occupies Crimea for a week and everybody loses their minds'.

Another from the Muslim Defence League reads: 'Allah did not send his revelations to BBC News or Sky News. Want to learn about Islam? Go to the correct sources. Qur'an and Hadith'

Elaborate plot: Conley was planning to travel to Turkey via Frankfurt, Germany, and then make her way to the Syrian border where she was hoping to use her training as a nurse at an ISIS camp

On Shannon's Facebook page however there is also a like for Humans of New York, the popular photo series, a site devoted to web memes and a similar site called 'Welcome to the Internet'.

There are also hints at the frustrations that may have driven her to extremism including references to how hard it is to get a job.

She has posted a picture comedian Louis CK who has the words above him: 'Of course foreigners steal your job'.

Her Google+ page also has the words 'The Caravan of Martyrs' on the home page which were used by Osama bin Laden to describe those who give their lives for jihad.

She also appears to have set up a profile on dating website singlemuslim.com under which she claims to already be living in Morocco.

Under the user Halima95 she apparently says that she always eats halal food and that she wants to marry within the next year.

Court documents show that the 19-year-old held nothing back, detailing for the FBI agents her plan to journey to Syria and use her training as a nurse to help ISIS' cause.



Shannon Conley had been warned several times by investigators that she could be arrested if she follows through with her scheme, but the 19-year-old allegedly declared she would rather go to prison than turn away from jihad.



Conley also allegedly rejected the notion of helping Muslims in her capacity as a registered nurse, saying that she wanted to be a jihadi fighter rather than humanitarian.



Shannon's father told the agents that he once walked in on the 19-year-old talking to her extremist boyfriend on Skype, and the Tunisian national used the opportunity to ask Mr Shannon for his blessing for the couple to marry and live together in Syria as soon as possible.

Airport arrest: Shannon Maureen Conley was picked up at Denver International Airport while trying to fly to Turkey

But the teenager’s parents informed her that they did not support her relationship the alleged ISIS militant, or her plans to relocate to the Middle East.

Shannon was aware that her faith required her to secure her parents’ blessing before she could get married, but she decided to flout that custom and move to Syria, where she was planning to work as a nurse in an ISIS camp.



When John Conley found out that his daughter had a one-way ticket to Turkey for April 8, he contacted the feds.



‘It's a difficult time for us,’ her mother, Ana Conley, told CNN on Wednesday.



According to the mother’s Facebook page, she has four daughters, with Shannon being the youngest one.



Neighbors in Arvada told the station KDVR that Shannon has undergone a drastic transformation over the past six months.



‘I would see her in shorts and then all the sudden she started wearing those [Islamic] clothes maybe six months after they moved here,’ said Brenda Herrera.



On her Facebook page, Shannon changed her name to Halima, which is loosely translated as ‘mild-mannered’ and ‘generous,’ and called herself a ‘Slave of Allah,’



When Conley was detained at Denver International Airport April 8, she had a one-way plane ticket to Turkey via Frankfurt, Germany. Her final destination was Syria.



'Role model': Officials found in Conley's luggage CDs and DVDs labeled 'Anwar Al-Awlaki' referring to the militant who was killed in a 2011 drone attack

Officials also seized propaganda about Jihad and Al Qaeda from Conley’s luggage, along with CDs and DVDs labelled 'Anwar Al-Awlaki.'



Al-Awlaki was a suspected American-born terrorist from Colorado who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2011.



Ms Conley's arrest came following an eight-month FBI investigation.

Federal agents first became aware of the teenager last November when she was spotted by a security guard taking notes at the Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada - the site of a 2007 shooting that left two missionaries dead.



The leader of the congregation, Pastor George Morrison, contacted the authorities to report that Conley has been seen wandering around the campus on Ward Road.



‘Conley made spontaneous statements to church staff to the effect of: “Why is the church worried about a terrorist attack?' and, that terrorists are: “…not allowed to kill aging adults and little children,"’ the criminal complaint obtained by Denver Post said.



An Arvada police detective spoke to Conley about her presence at FBC, and the teenager allegedly told the investigator that 'she hated those people.'



Federal agents first became aware of the teenager last November when she was spotted by a security guard taking notes at the Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, Colorado

Asked about her note-taking on campus, the 19-year-old explained that she noticed church staff following her and pretended like she was diagramming the layout of the church to make them worry.



In December 2013, Conley revealed to an FBI agent that she had signed up for the U.S. Army Explorers to train in military tactics in the hopes of passing on her knowledge to jihadi fighters. A short time later, the 19-year-old told a federal official that she will be ready to wage jihad in a year.



Ms Conley also shared her opinions about harming innocent people in the name of jihad.



‘To Conley, it is okay to harm innocents if they are part of a target. She felt that if wives, children, and chaplains visiting a military base are killed during an attack, it is acceptable because they should not have been at a legitimate target,’ according to court documents.

