A Virginia woman on Wednesday waived a preliminary hearing on terrorism charges over allegedly lying to U.S. investigators about using social media to promote and recruit for the militant Islamic State group.
Heather Coffman, 29, of Henrico, Virginia, was arrested on Monday after trying to recruit an undercover FBI agent for Islamic State, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Richmond.
Authorities began investigating Coffman, the mother of a 7-year-old child, in June after noticing her Facebook activity, according to the criminal complaint.
The FBI alleges in the court filings that Coffman used several Facebook accounts to promote the group and claimed to have Islamic State contacts in Syria.
She listed "jihad for Allah's sake" under her "work and education" on Facebook, according to the FBI.
The FBI obtained a search warrant for the Facebook account in August. Investigators discovered a history of correspondence about Islamic State, an extremist group once linked to al Qaeda that has seized parts of Syria and Iraq and is the target of U.S.-led air strikes.
An FBI undercover agent posing as an Islamic State sympathizer began meeting with Coffman in July, according to the court documents.
Agents interviewed Coffman at her job on Thursday and she denied having any involvement with an extremist organization.
Coffman is charged with making false statements involving or promoting domestic terrorism. She faces up to eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
She will remain in jail until her next court date, which has not been set. Calls to Coffman's attorney, Mark Henry Schmidt, were not returned.
