Albany woman planned to bomb state capitol, federal prosecutors say

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An Albany woman pledged her support to the Islamic State and then talked with undercover federal agents about blowing up the New York State Capitol building, federal prosecutors allege.

A criminal complaint filed Thursday in federal court says Jessica Bowie, 35, had a gun and a dummy explosive device after meeting with informants on Wednesday who she thought would help her carry out the attack. She was placed under arrest at the meeting.

Prosecutors charged Bowie with attempting to provide material support for a designated terrorist organization. She was arraigned Thursday before Magistrate Judge Daniel Stewart and ordered detained pending trial.

Her attorney didn’t return a message seeking comment.

The complaint says she converted to Islam approximately five years ago and recorded an Arabic message pledging her allegiance to the head of ISIS. Bowie sent messages to an FBI informant asking for help making explosives and stating that she wished to attack the State Capitol, which sits on a hill above downtown Albany.

The State Capitol includes the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul as well as the chambers where the state Senate and Assembly convene. Lawmakers typically are in session between January and mid-June. Hochul also has an office in New York City.

Bowie visited the building five times between July 21 and August 9 of this year, according to pictures from surveillance cameras included in the complaint. She told an FBI informant that she would place a bomb on a food-delivery bag by the building’s Washington Avenue entrance, the complaint says.

“I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting,” she wrote to the informant, according to the complaint. “I want it to have a affect on the American system.”

Prosecutors say Bowie purchased nails and other materials she believed could be used to make a bomb earlier this month. She met with an informant on Wednesday and was subsequently arrested.

“There’s no helping me, you guys know enough,” she told agents, according to the complaint. “Material support is up to 20 years in prison, I already Googled it before, I know I’m going to jail.”

Jimmy Vielkind covers how state government and politics affect people throughout New York. He has covered Albany since 2008, most recently as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Jimmy led a team of reporters that won a New York Press Club award for coverage of Andrew Cuomo’s downfall and was on a team that won a Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of Amazon’s HQ2 process. A native of the Capitol Region, Jimmy has two degrees in urban planning. His position is funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Reach Jimmy at [email protected] .

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