Idaho Man Sentenced to 18 Years in Islamic State Plot

A federal judge sentenced Alexander Scott Mercurio to 18 years in prison for seeking to aid the Islamic State. After his prison term, Mercurio will face supervised release for life. He pleaded guilty to the terrorism charge last month.

Prosecutors said Mercurio pledged allegiance to the group and identified churches in Coeur d’Alene as targets for an attack with explosives, knives, guns and other weapons. The FBI arrested him on April 6, 2024, the day before the planned attack, prosecutors said.

Court records show Mercurio created an online collection of pro-Islamic State material. He had wanted to travel abroad to support the group but lacked the resources. Before his arrest, he sent a government informant an audio pledge of support and an image showing him with a knife before a flag bearing the group's name.

His lawyers described him as a depressed teenager from a troubled family who had been exposed to white supremacist ideology and was coping with family trauma. They said an online informant befriended him while he was isolated, and that he later embraced radical Islam. The lawyers said Mercurio has renounced his extremist views and was assessed as posing a low risk of future danger. They had sought a nine-year sentence.

The Islamic State once controlled territory in Syria and Iraq, declaring a caliphate in 2014. It had mostly lost control in each nation by 2018, though sleeper cells and affiliates remain active, including in West Africa.