Zion man, accused in terrorism case, now also charged with lying to the FBI

A Zion man who already was charged with conspiring to provide support to the Islamic State is now accused of lying to the FBI.

Edward Schimenti already had been charged last year along with Joseph D. Jones, both of the far north suburb, had been charged last year with providing material support to the Islamic State.

Federal prosecutors had said last year that the two men befriended two undercover FBI agents in the fall of 2015, as well as someone cooperating with law enforcement who wasn’t an ISIS supporter.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Jones and Schimenti thought the undercover agents and the other individual were fellow ISIS devotees.

Jones and Schimenti shared photographs of themselves holding the Islamic State flag at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, according to prosecutors. They said Schimenti, also known as “Abdul Wali,” was caught on tape saying he would like to see the ISIS flag “on top of the White House.”

In March 2017, the two men are accused of giving several cell phones to the cooperating individual, believing they’d be used to detonate explosive devices in ISIS attacks.

Jones, also known as “Yusuf Abdulhaqq,” and Schimenti drove that person to O’Hare Airport, expecting that person to travel to Syria to fight with ISIS, according to prosecutors, who said Schimenti told that person to “drench that land with they, they blood.”

Now, prosecutors say Schimenti also lied to the FBI by telling agents, among other things, he never had a conversation about using cell phones as bomb detonators.