Soldier who attempted to assist ISIS in killing US troops sentenced to 14 years
(WASHINGTON) — A United States Army soldier has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after he allegedly attempted to assist ISIS in conducting a deadly ambush on U.S. troops, according to the Department of Justice.
Cole Bridges, a 24-year old man from Stow, Ohio, has been sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for “attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder U.S. military service members, based on his efforts to assist the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to attack and kill U.S. soldiers in the Middle East,” the DOJ announced Friday.
Bridges originally pleaded guilty to terrorism charges on June 14, 2023, but his sentence was handed down this week, officials said.
Bridges joined the U.S. Army in approximately September 2019 and was assigned as a cavalry scout in the Third Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, according to court documents.
“Before he joined the Army, beginning in at least 2019, Bridges began researching and consuming online propaganda promoting jihadists and their violent ideology, and began to express his support for ISIS and jihad on social media,” the DOJ said. “In or about October 2020, approximately one year after joining the Army, Bridges began communicating with an FBI online covert employee (the OCE), who was posing as an ISIS supporter in contact with ISIS fighters in the Middle East.”
It was during these communications that Bridges expressed his frustration with the U.S. military and his desire to aid ISIS, officials said.
“Bridges then provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City. Bridges also provided the OCE with portions of a U.S. Army training manual and guidance about military combat tactics, with the understanding that the materials would be used by ISIS in future attack planning.”
In December 2020, Bridges subsequently began to supply the OCE with instructions for the purported ISIS fighters on how to attack U.S. forces in the Middle East.
“Bridges diagrammed specific military maneuvers intended to help ISIS fighters maximize the lethality of future attacks on U.S. troops,” according to the DOJ. “Bridges also provided advice about the best way to fortify an ISIS encampment to ambush U.S. Special Forces, including by wiring certain buildings with explosives to kill the U.S. troops.”
Bridges also provided the OCE with a video of himself in his U.S. Army body armor standing in front of a flag often used by ISIS fighters and making a gesture symbolic of support for ISIS in January 2021, authorities said, and even sent a second video a week later where he reportedly used a voice manipulator to read a propaganda speech in support of the anticipated ambush by ISIS on U.S. troops.
“The FBI Washington, Atlanta, and Cleveland Field Offices investigated the case, with valuable assistance provided by U.S. Army Counterintelligence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, and U.S. Army Third Infantry Division,” the DOJ said.
“Our troops risk their lives for our country,” said acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said when Bridges was initially charged in January 2021. “But they should never face such peril at the hands of one of their own.”
(MEMPHIS) — A former Memphis police officer on trial in the beating death of Tyre Nichols texted photos of a bloodied Nichols to his then-girlfriend, she said Wednesday during testimony.
Brittany Leake, an officer with the Memphis Police Department (MPD) who used to date Demetrius Haley, said Haley texted her and one of her family members a photo of Nichols that showed the 29-year-old leaning against a police car, bleeding from his mouth, wearing a torn shirt, appearing dirty and with his eyes closed, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom.
Haley is on trial along with Justin Smith and Tadarrius Bean, who were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
“I wasn’t offended, but it was difficult to look at,” Leake said, claiming she deleted the photo, according to WATN.
Leake said she told Haley that Nichols needed to go to the trauma center, according to WATN. She claimed Haley previously sent her other photos from his patrols, including pictures of a burned suspect. Leake testified that she has never sent photos from the job in her two years as an MPD officer because it is against department policy, according to WATN.
Prosecutors on Wednesday also called to the stand Jesse Guy, a former Memphis Fire Department paramedic who cared for Nichols on the scene and in the ambulance that transported him to St. Francis Hospital, according to WATN.
Guy said when he first arrived on the scene, an emergency medical technician (EMT) told him Nichols “just went out,” according to WATN. Guy claimed he heard one of the officers say Nichols took something.
Guy testified that Nichols was unresponsive, had head swelling, scratches and marks around his neck and blood spilling from his mouth, according to WATN.
“It’s time to go,” Guy told prosecutors he was thinking after Nichols had no pulse and was unresponsive to Narcan, an overdose reversal drug, according to WATN. “I felt like something was going on.”
Guy said he gave Nichols oxygen, intubated him, removed his wet clothes and attempted with no success to defibrillate his heart, according to WATN. After giving Nichols epinephrine, more oxygen and sodium bicarbonate, Guy said there was still no pulse.
“I was trying to save his life,” Guy said, according to WATN.
Guy claimed he decided Nichols must go to the closest hospital to get better care, according to WATN. By the time they arrived at St. Francis Hospital, the former paramedic said they were able to get Nichols’ heart beating again.
Guy noted that when he asked one of the officers involved in the encounter what happened, the officer responded with a sigh.
“Never mind,” Guy said he told the officer because the paramedic thought the policeman was going to give him “B.S.” according to WATN.
Guy said during cross-examination that EMTs on the scene when he arrived had not assessed Nichols and didn’t tell him much about Nichols’ health status, according to WATN.
When defense attorneys asked Guy about information he received from the EMTs who were already on site, Guy claimed that the EMTs told him they heard Nichols moan in response to one of the medics.
Michael Stengel, Haley’s attorney, asked Guy when he knew Nichols was going through a medical emergency, according to WATN.
“When I laid eyes on him,” Guy said.
Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over on Jan. 7, 2023, for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him.
Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes later after tracking him down. Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.
Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly.
The prosecution told ABC News last week that they will not have any statements until after the trial. The defense attorneys did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.
Emmitt Martin III and Desmond Mills Jr., the two other officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges. Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records. Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.
The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.
ABC News’ Deena Zaru and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — California officials are asking for help locating a 14-year-old mother, her newborn and her 15-year-old sister-in-law, all of whom haven’t been seen since Sunday night.
Amoria Brown, 14; her daughter Omoria Brown, 3 months old; and Sanaii Brown, 15, were last seen at around 10 p.m. Sunday and were believed to be headed to a high-desert area with family, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The newborn girl suffers from a heart condition and needs daily medication, according to the LAPD.
Amoria Brown is described as Black, 5-foot-4 and about 140 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. She was seen wearing a multicolored shirt, gray shorts and gray sandals, according to the LAPD.
Sanaii Brown is Black with brown hair and brown eyes. She is 5-foot-1 and weighs about 150 pounds, the LAPD said.
Police ask anyone with information about the teens and newborn to contact the LAPD at 1-800-222- 8477.
(LOS ANGELES) — The former Los Angeles police detective convicted in 2012 of killing her ex-lover’s wife was denied parole on Wednesday in the 1986 murder and will continue to serve her 27 years-to-life sentence.
Stephanie Lazarus was convicted of murdering Sherri Rasmussen, a 29-year-old hospital critical care nursing director, who was shot three times in the home she shared with her husband, John Ruetten.
Lazarus was sentenced to 27 years to life after a jury found her guilty of first-degree murder. She became eligible for parole in 2023 after the state of California passed a law giving special consideration to youthful offenders who had committed their crimes when they were under the age of 26.
Lazarus was 25 at the time of the murder.
Commissioner Garland stated that the board had “found good cause to rescind Lazarus’ parole” and would reconvene for further hearings regarding Lazarus.
There will be another chance for parole. Lazarus will be set for another suitability hearing within 120 days.
“The Killer Down the Hall,” a new “20/20” airing Friday, Oct. 4, on ABC at 9 p.m. E.T. and streaming the next day on Hulu, features the story of Stephanie Lazarus, including interviews with the victim’s family and friends.
“It’s definitely, uh, pound for pound, one of the greatest true-crime stories of all time,” Mark Groubert, a journalist who wrote a feature on Lazarus’ LAPD unit for L.A. Weekly, told “20/20.”
Ruetten and Lazarus met at UCLA in the 1970s and had a friendly relationship that involved casual sex, according to Ruetten’s testimony at Lazarus’ trial. Ruetten also testified that he never considered Lazarus his girlfriend. He also admitted to sleeping with Lazarus shortly after becoming engaged to Rasmussen. On Feb. 24, 1986, Ruetten discovered his wife lying in a pool of blood on the living room floor of their condo in Van Nuys, California. He immediately called 911.
The original investigators determined the crime scene at the home that Ruetten and Rasmussen shared showed all the signs of a “hot prowl,” a term police use to describe a home invasion. Investigators strongly believed that Rasmussen was the victim of a burglary that escalated into her murder. She had ligature marks on her wrist, indicating that, at some point, someone had tied her up. She also had three gunshot wounds to her chest, along with a bite mark on her arm.
On the night of the murder, LAPD Homicide Detective Lyle Mayer questioned a very emotional John Ruetten about what he knew regarding the day Sherri was killed.
Ruetten denied killing his wife and agreed to undergo a polygraph examination, but the results came back inconclusive. However, he had a rock-solid alibi, according to the Rasmussen family attorney.
“He was at work that day,” John Taylor, the attorney, said. “He had left work. He had stopped to pick up his dry cleaning and then came back between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. and found his wife murdered in the living room area of the house.”
In the eyes of Mayer, the lead detective, Ruetten was a grieving husband. Investigators said they didn’t feel he was hiding anything, and as far as they were concerned, he was not a suspect — and they told him so.
“I believe your house was burglarized today,” Mayer told Ruetten in the interrogation room. “Once those persons, or that person, or whoever was inside, I believe they were trying to steal your stereo and probably some other items.”
Not long after Rasmussen’s murder, investigators quickly pursued a new lead. Another burglary with a similar M.O. occurred in the same Van Nuys neighborhood.
A woman interrupted the burglary when she came home and found two men in her house, one of whom was armed. They fled, and witness sketches of the suspects were created. Even though the LAPD had these new suspects, there was no evidence directly tying anyone to Rasmussen’s murder. Sherri’s family and friends believed the motive to be personal. Her father, Nels Rasmussen, says he urged the police to investigate a disgruntled nurse Sherri had worked with, as well as Ruetten’s former lover, Stephanie Lazarus, whose name Rasmussen never knew. But the detectives continued to focus solely on the burglary theory.
At this point, detectives said they did not have a single witness, fingerprints, or murder weapon.
The case went cold until 2001, when the Los Angeles Police Department launched the LAPD’s Cold Case Unit. That year, detectives were given more than 9,000 unsolved murders spanning more than two decades, and Rasmussen’s case was one of them.
With new technology and a fresh set of eyes, cold case investigators took another look at the bite mark that was on Rasmussen’s forearm.
Detective Cliff Shepard was the lead officer who investigated the Rasmussen case for the unit.
“Up to that point, nobody else had looked at it other than Mayer and myself, really,” Shepard said. “When I was going back over the reports, they indicate that a bite swab had been collected,” Shepard said. “And when I looked at the evidence… no evidence for a bite swab. So, I checked with our property, they verified they did not have the swab booked with our evidence room. There’s no record of it.”
Shepard sought assistance from Jennifer Francis, a criminalist at the LAPD’s Scientific Investigation Division, to locate the swab, which she traced to a freezer at the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The swab was sent out to forensics for analysis, which returned a DNA profile of an unidentified female but returned no match in law enforcement databases.
The DNA had given police a profile, but it did not provide a name. Even with this new information, the investigator’s theory remained that Sherri’s killer or killers were burglars. By 2005, Shepard had moved on from the Rasmussen cold-case investigation without identifying a suspect, even with the DNA profile.
“My biggest regret is not interviewing Ruetten. Not meeting with him and having a face-to-face,” Shepard said.
The case went cold until 2009 when Detective Jim Nuttall from the Van Nuys division took over the investigation with a fresh set of eyes.
One of the first things Nuttall noticed was the four-year-old DNA report by Francis indicating that a woman was present at the murder. He also thought the stereo equipment stacked by the door was suspicious, leading him to question the burglary theory.
After going back to speak with Sherri’s family and Ruetten, Nutall and his team of investigators compiled a list of five female suspects who were in Rasmussen’s orbit. Three of the five were immediately eliminated – Rasmussen’s sister, mother, and her close friend –after submitting DNA samples. The fourth suspect, a nurse with alleged tension with Rasmussen at her job, also was eliminated.
The fifth suspect was Stephanie Lazarus, Ruetten’s ex-lover from college. Ruetten told Detective Nuttall that he had already given Lazarus’ name to the LAPD 23 years ago. The conversation, however, was never documented.
Four months after reopening the Rasmussen case, Nuttall did something no other officer investigating Sherri’s murder had done: He took a hard look at Lazarus.
The decision was made to have a special surveillance unit follow Lazarus to observe her and obtain a DNA sample. After following her, the unit noticed she had thrown a cup away in a public trash can. They recovered the cup to test the DNA against that from the bite mark.
The DNA matched the bite mark on Rasmussen, providing detectives with the evidence they needed to arrest Lazarus. Lazarus was charged with Sherri’s murder and pleaded not guilty.
In February 2012, 26 years after the murder of Rasmussen, Lazarus stood trial at a courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life and an additional two years for the use of a firearm.
After her conviction, Lazarus continued to profess her innocence but changed her story in 2023 when she became eligible for parole.
“The only reason she confessed is because she wants to get out on parole,” Teresa Marie Lane, a sister of Rasmussen, said. “We really have to keep her in because she has no regard for what she did. She does not have remorse.”