SPARTA, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Sparta woman has been sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for concealing material support intended for a foreign terrorist organization.
37-year-old Georgianna A.M. Giampietro was indicted in August 2019 on charges of attempting to provide these materials to Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham. Information provided in January 2022 charged her with the concealment of the support and resources.
According to court documents, Giampietro had conversations in September 2018 with an undercover agent who expressed interest in traveling to Syria to join the designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The agent told Giampietro that her husband swore an oath of allegiance to HTS and that he intended to fight on behalf of HTS.
U.S. Attorney's Office, Giampietro initially provided instruction and advice to the individual on how to travel to Syria and avoid detection by law enforcement.
This advice included actions that she and her husband should take before the trip such as severing ties in advance, acquiring new phones, etc.
Giampietro also offered to communicate with her own contacts on their behalf to help them in safely traveling to Syria.
Court documents detail that Giampietro asked the undercover agent if she considered traveling to Afghanistan after being told by her contact that there was presently no jihad in Syria.
Not only did she provide the agent with information that would assist her and her husband, while providing contact information, Giampietro was aware that HTS was a designated terrorist organization and believed the individuals were going to work under the direction of the organization.
She also intended that the agent and her husband would provide funds to the contact which would make its way to HTS. This was providing material support to HTS disguised as a charitable contribution.
