Hopatcong Woman Hid Financing To Syrian Terrorist Groups: Feds

SUSSEX, NJ - A Sussex County woman was sentenced Tuesday to several years in prison for hiding her attempts to provide financial support to Syrian foreign terrorist organizations, federal officials said.

Maria Bell, aka “Maria Sue Bell,” 55, of Hopatcong, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to one count of concealing attempts to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced, alongside U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division, FBI-Newark Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy and FBI Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Timothy Langan.

In addition to the prison stay, Judge Vazquez sentenced Bell to five years of supervised release.

The nearly three-year sentence was imposed Tuesday in Newark federal court.

From February 2018 to November 2018, Bell disguised her attempt to provide resources to fighters based in Syria who were members of Jabhat Fath al-sham, also known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Bell previously admitted.

The Hopatcong woman knew the groups were designated foreign terrorist organizations, that both organizations has engaged or engages in terrorist activities, and that she had reason to believe her attempt at aiding the groups were to be used to assist in the execution of a violent act, federal officials said.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger thanked special agents of the FBI and task force officers of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Dennehy, and special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel in Newark, with the investigation leading to Bell’s sentence.