Former Madison man pleads guilty to trying to join Islamic State
A former Madison man who flew to Turkey in 2014 and went to the Syrian border to try to join the Islamic State terrorist organization pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge of attempting to give material support to a terrorist group.
“Your honor, I am a Muslim and I wanted to be a part of the caliphate that is occurring or will be occurring in the Sham, the Levant and Syria,” Joshua Van Haften, 35, told U.S. District Judge James Peterson, referring to the region in which Syria is located. “So I attempted to cross the border and join.”
Van Haften faces up to 15 years in prison when he is sentenced by Peterson on Feb. 17. Before he is sentenced, federal prosecutors and Van Haften’s lawyer, federal defender Joseph Bugni, have to convince Peterson whether a federal sentencing enhancement for terrorism applies, which could push his advisory sentencing guideline range to 30 years to life.
That would not increase his potential prison sentence beyond the 15-year maximum, but it could influence the length of the sentence that Peterson hands down.
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