Ngoc Vo, left, and Long Vo are the parents of Kim Anj Vo, whom federal prosecutors accuse of conspiring to provide material support for ISIS. Photographed in their home in Hephzibah, Ga., Wednesday morning March 13, 2019. [MICHAEL HOLAHAN/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE] ▲ Kim Anj Vo, right, with her father, Long Vo, following her graduation from Hephzibah High School in 2017. Federal prosecutors accuse of her of conspiring to provide material support for ISIS. [Photo Courtesy of the Vo family] ▲ Kim Anj Vo photographed on graduation from Hephzibah High School in 2017. Federal prosecutors accuse of her of conspiring to provide material support for ISIS. [Photo Courtesy of the Vo family] ▲ Kim Anj Vo shown in an apparent selfie. Federal prosecutors accuse of her of conspiring to provide material support for ISIS. [Photo Courtesy of the Vo family] ▲

Kim Anh Vo never gave her parents a moment of worry, until FBI agents arrested her Tuesday morning on a charge of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State.



The 20-year-old graduated in 2017 from Hephzibah High School where she made As and Bs. She wanted to one day work for the FBI in cyber security, Long Vo said Wednesday at the family's home in Hephzibah. He and his wife are still in shock. They hadn't a clue about what his daughter is accused of doing, Vo said while fighting tears.



"She a good girl," he said of his oldest child. Kim was the kind of person who went to school and came straight home, he said. When she did venture out she was expected to call him every hour.



Kim Vo was still in high school when she allegedly conspired with members and supporters of ISIS to spread the group's message and recruit new members. According to the complaint against her that was issued in New York, she recruited a 14-year-old boy in Norway. He created online videos and a video game in support of ISIS.



"She said it was a long time ago," Vo said of his daughter's only comment to her parents about the matter.



According to the complaint against her, she used a variety of aliases in online groups, including the hacking group Caliphate Cyber Army that disseminated ISIS propaganda and stole personal information from private and government computer systems. The group she belonged to allegedly published videos calling for an attack on a New York-based non-profit and another calling for thousands of Americans on a hit list to be killed by so-called "lone wolf" attacks. Vo's participation allegedly spanned April 2016 to May 2017.



According to the complaint, Vo contacted the FBI on July 6 and 31, 2017, and Aug. 16, 2018, and voluntarily gave recorded interviews.



Vo's family had no idea she had any interest in Islam let along radical Islam. The only hobby she seemed to have was studying computer science, her father said. In 2015 she was one of just 13 students enrolled in the school's cyber class. She told a reporter that you have to be careful online because you never know who is watching.



Vo's father Wednesday stood in the middle of his daughter's bedroom unable to comprehend what she might have done. "She's a good girl," he repeated in tears. Kim had left her room tidy, her sleigh bed neatly made with a large stuffed teddy bear and what appeared to be a yellow dinosaur in a corner. A book bag sat on the floor next to a dresser covered with paraphernalia and beauty products commonly found in a young American woman's room.



Vo wasn't sure where his daughter was Wednesday. At one point he was told she is in the Lincoln County Jail but when he called there he was told she wasn't. "Maybe she's on the way to New York?"



Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Augusta, Vo appeared briefly before the magistrate judge and consented to her transport to New York. Her arrest was announced by the U.S. Justice Department. The case will be prosecuted in the Southern District of New York.



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