Ex-Eagle Scout James Bradley sentenced to 11 years for trying to join ISIS

A former Boy Scout arrested in New Jersey while boarding a Yemen-bound ship so he could join ISIS in the war-torn country was sentenced to 11 years in federal prison on Thursday. 

James Bradley, 21, and his lawyers had pleaded in court filings for a sentence of time-served, arguing he had been deradicalized through work he completed with a non-profit group after his arrest in 2021.

But Judge Paul Engelmayer, in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, said that request was a “complete non-starter.”

“I cannot foresee the future, none of us can,” Engelmayer said as he imposed the 11-year sentence, adding that the non-profit workers who “deradicalized” Bradley “don’t have crystal balls.” 

“The gravity of the offense is hard to get around,” he added.

Federal prosecutors had sought a 15-year sentence, arguing Bradley was fully committed to joining the terrorist state when he was arrested — and wanted to do so to kill innocent Americans. 

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“The defendant was dead set on taking up arms for ISIS in one way or another,” Assistant US Attorney Kaylan Lasky told Engelmayer at the hearing Thursday. 

Bradley also addressed the court, apologizing to his family and loved ones and insisting he had been fully rehabilitated.

“I’m truly embarrassed and remorseful for what I have done,” he said. “I’m so different from the James Bradley that was arrested two years ago.”

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Before imposing the sentence, Engelmayer gave credit to Bradley’s family and the non-profit employees who worked with him to loosen the grip of extremist ideology.

He also briefly read from letters submitted by Bradley’s friends and associates, including one from his former Scoutmaster, who noted the ISIS wannabe had achieved the highest rank of Eagle Scout during his time in the organization. 

But the judge said he could not responsibly sentence Bradley to time served. Engelmayer said he settled on the 11-year sentence in part because he was not convinced Bradley wouldn’t commit another crime or be drawn to radicalism in the future. 

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Bradley, of the Bronx, pleaded guilty in September to one count of attempting to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization in a deal with prosecutors. 

He became infatuated with the terror group after he converted to Islam near the end of his senior year in high school in 2018 and began attending services at a mosque on the Upper East Side. 

At the mosque, the teen met Mohammed Delowar Hossain, a radical who “groomed and radicalized James,” Bradley’s lawyers wrote in a sentencing submission in the case. 

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He immersed himself in online ISIS propaganda for the next two years and ultimately married a fellow radical from Alabama, Arwa Muthana, despite knowing her for only a few weeks. 

The pair were arrested on March 31, 2021 on the gangplank of a cargo ship in Newark that they had paid to board so they could be brought to Yemen and then take up arms for the Islamic State. 

Muthana has also pleaded guilty but has yet to face sentencing.