After receiving her training, Mouelhi bought her a plane ticket from Denver to Frankfurt to Turkey. She was arrested as she was boarding her flight.

Prior to this, she worked as a certified nursing assistant caring for the elderly and the infirm.

This was not a sting operation. The F.B.I. had contacted her months before her planned flight, because a church pastor reported her for stalking, and she voluntarily met with them several times, knowing they were FBI agents. The affidavit for the Complaint (D.E. #28) describes the numerous discussions and the agents' repeated attempts to talk her out of going overseas. They even tried to convince her to do humanitarian work in Syria, rather than engage in violent jihad, but she refused. She said it was not an option because it would not solve the problem. Jihad was necessary. She showed them a book on guerilla warfare. The agents write:

The book had several passages underlined by Conley, including motorcade attacks and waging guerilla warfare. Conley stated that attacking a motorcade in the US was not viable because security in the US is too good. Conley thought she could plan such an attack, but not carry it out. Conley liked the idea of guerilla warfare because she could do it alone.

The agents report this conversation with her:

According to Conley, it is acceptable to attack westerners when engaged in “defensive Jihad.” Conley stated that legitimate targets of attack include military facilities and personnel, government facilities and personnel, and public officials. When asked if this includes law enforcement, Conley replied that it does. According to Conley, law enforcement is included because police enforce man-made laws that are not grounded in God’s law. Conley stated targets to be avoided include women, children, and the elderly.

The agents say they informed her several times she would be committing a crime if she tried went overseas to fight for or aid a terror group and tried to talk her out of going. She didn't care.

The FBI then enlisted the aid of her parents. They had no better luck. Her parents told the FBI her views had become more extreme and she had met a 32 year old Tunisian suitor whom she wanted to marry. She told her parents they would live in Syria, and she asked for her father's blessing. He refused to give it. When her parents could not dissuade her, and they found her one way plane ticket to Turkey, they told the FBI.

Conley was arrested after checking her luggage at the airport and in the process of boarding her flight. Her booked flights were from Denver to Frankfurt, then to Istanbul, and then to Adana, which is a 3 hour drive to the Syrian border.

When the feds later searched her home, they found videos by Anwar al-Awlaki and other jihadist materials.

Conley insisted at her sentencing that she didn't mean to harm anyone. She said she was just trying to protect Muslims. Judge Moore, before imposing sentence, said:

"That woman is in need of psychiatric help," U.S. District Judge Raymond Moore said before sentencing Shannon Conley. "She's a bit of a mess."..."To me, it doesn't seem like she gets it," the judge said."

In an earlier motion for bond, her lawyer wrote:

The Court should know the following. Ms. Conley is Muslim. She intends to remain a Muslim. However, as she was exploring her faith she was exposed to teachings through which she was terribly misled. She knows she was misled. She is eager for further study and has no intention of pursuing the course she was on when she went to Denver International Airport on April 8th.

Clearly, the woman has issues and they go well beyond religion. (She told agents she was self-taught and learned everything she knew about Islam on the internet.) Will she receive the help she needs in prison? Unlikely, but given her determination, her refusal to heed the agents' repeated warnings, and her belief that U.S. facilities and personnel are legitimate targets, the judge had few other options.

Should the FBI have just let her go to Syria to meet whatever fate awaited her there? I think the lone (and often looney) wolves who never leave home pose more of a danger to their home countries than returning fighters. Maybe we should just let them go.