A judge has ordered a Philadelphia woman jailed pending trial on charges she tried to join and martyr herself for the Islamic State group.
The judge's ruling came after prosecutors argued at a detention hearing Thursday that 30-year-old Keonna Thomas is a flight risk and a threat to the community.
Thomas has been in custody since her arrest on Friday. Prosecutors said the unemployed mother of two young daughters made arrangements to fly to Spain last month with hopes of reaching Syria to fight with the terror group.
Thomas, also known as Fatayat Al Khilafah and YoungLioness on social media, began communicating with a man who identified himself as a violent jihadi fighter in December of 2013, according to a criminal complaint. She talked with him about donating money "to the ISIS brothers" and traveling to get more money. Posts from her Twitter accounts also included statements about dying for the cause.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Willis said Thomas would've boarded the flight had federal agents not served a search warrant on her home days earlier.
Defense attorneys argued Thomas should have been sent home with a GPS tracking device.
