Welcome to a new weekend post here on Victory Girls, Saturday’s Story Sequels. This is the post where we will provide updates to stories previously covered here on Victory Girls, but the follow-up to the initial story didn’t get near as much coverage as before. For all of you who have ever thought “I wonder what happened” – this is the post where we follow up and find out.

Let’s start this week in Colorado, where Shannon Conley was sentenced this week for attempting to aid ISIS. Conley, who is 19 years old, had converted to Islam and gotten a boyfriend over Skype, who convinced her to come to Syria to help out in the jihad. She was arrested at the Denver airport when her parents tipped off authorities that she had purchased a one-way ticket to Turkey.

Conley has now been sentenced to 4 years in federal prison.



Shannon Conley told the judge she was misled while pursuing Islam and learned only after her arrest about atrocities committed by the extremists she was taught to respect. “I am glad I have learned of their true identity here and not on the front lines,” said Conley, whose black and tan headscarf clashed against her striped jail uniform. “I disavow these radical views I’ve come to know and I now believe in the true Islam in which peace is encouraged.” But U.S. District Judge Raymond P. Moore said he doubted Conley’s views had changed, and she needs psychological help. He also sentenced her to three years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service and barred her from possessing black powder used in explosives, saying, “I’m not going to take a chance with you.” “I don’t know what has been crystalized in your mind,” Moore told her, adding that he hoped the sentence would discourage others with similar intentions. “I’m still not sure you get it.”

Fortunately, she will have 4 years to sit and “get it” in prison. Hopefully she emerges a little wiser, and to a world where the Islamic State group no longer exists. Fingers crossed.

Our second follow-up this week takes us to the governor’s mansion in Oregon. Governor John Kitzhaber was forced to give a surprise press conference on Friday regarding the issues surrounding his fiancee, the First Girlfriend of Oregon, Cylvia Hayes. If you recall, the news that Hayes had participated in marriage fraud (by marrying an Ethiopian immigrant for money so he could stay in the United States). Hayes got up, cried for the cameras, and then pretty much hid until the election was over and Kitzhaber (unfortunately) was re-elected.

But the First Girlfriend’s legal troubles are FAR from over.

A nonprofit's state funding spiked eightfold when it employed First Lady Cylvia Hayes. http://t.co/N12f6Ks5EG pic.twitter.com/WmHpeIJASu — Willamette Week (@wweek) January 30, 2015

Some of Oregon 1st Lady Cylvia Hayes' add'l $118k from advocacy group doesn't appear on her IRS return w/@LGunderson http://t.co/C0Hsp5TTAw — Nick Budnick (@NickBudnick) January 29, 2015



That’s called tax fraud, and unlike the statute of limitations on sham marriages, it is still quite a prosecutable offense.

But she stayed away from the cameras this time, and Kitzhaber went and squirmed under hard questions (from, among others, radio host Lars Larson) yet again about his girlfriend.

He also said he won’t resign, still loves Hayes and that they still plan to marry, but also said the former Bend resident “will have no policy role and no political role” in his fourth term. The governor — visibly nervous, his voice shaky at times — noted that when the first reports involving Hayes arose last year, he’d said her role would be “substantially different” than it was before, if he were to win an unprecedented fourth term. “However, these issues have become such a distraction, I want to make it clear she will have no policy role and no political role in my administration over the next four years,” Kitzhaber said.

As for one new allegation that Hayes might have falsified tax returns, he called them “very serious allegations” that Hayes would have to address, should she choose to do so after returning from a trip to Europe. He said they file separate returns and he has not reviewed hers. Later, he said he would have “nothing to say” on the issue of her taxes. But Kitzhaber said he and Hayes “took steps to separate her professional role” from the political one as First Lady. The governor said both he and Hayes are cooperating fully with the state Ethics Commission investigation of complaints that Hayes improperly commingled her work as a clean energy advocate and other business dealings with those of the state or improperly influenced state policy without due reporting.

Expect to see the name Cylvia Hayes pop up again on Victory Girls. This is a story that is sure to keep on going.

And finally, there is a rather big football game on tomorrow.

We here at Victory Girls haven’t covered “Deflate-gate,” simply because everyone else was doing it, and listening to Tom Brady talk about how he likes his balls was late-night comedy fodder enough for months on end. However, several of us here are quite interested in the game itself. I will only speak for myself, but, since I am Seattle-born and raised and have never cheered for any other professional football team – GO HAWKS! Here is hoping the game is clean and free of major injuries. And that the Seahawks win. I would like to see them win BIG (like last year, when they ran over the Broncos), but I’m going to predict a much closer game.

Thanks for stopping in this week for Saturday’s Story Sequels!