Wisconsin Man Accused of Attempting To Join ISIS

Luke 17:28-30 “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built” but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

A Madison, Wisconsin man has been arrested on charges that he tried to travel to the middle east to join Islamic terrorist group ISIS.

Joshua Van Haften, 34, made his first appearance in federal court Thursday and did not attempt to contest his being held without bond.

Van Haften was arrested Wednesday night at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and returning from Turkey.  Federal investigators said that Van Haften talked to people about his desire to join ISIS before he left for Instanbul, Turkey in August.

The federal complaint says that Van Haften posted on Facebook that he was not able to cross the border from Turkey into Syria.  He also said that the people who claimed to be able to help him just stole his money and left him on a country road.

Van Haften has a long criminal record, including convictions for battery and sexual assault.  He spent over seven years in prison on the sexual assault conviction after his eight year probation was revoked in 2000.

Van Haften’s lawyer says that his client looks forward to “having all the facts brought to light.”

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