Robert Lorenzo Hester, Jr., Attempted Material Support to ISIS, Missouri 2023

A 25-year-old Missouri man has been charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Robert Lorenzo Hester, Jr. of Columbia, Missouri, was charged in a federal complaint with attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Hester was charged in federal court based on his role in making preparations to launch a terrorist attack with persons he believed were associated with ISIS, who were actually undercover law enforcement personnel.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, throughout the investigation, Hester expressed his interest in and exhibited his willingness to commit violence in support of ISIS – and he attempted to provide material support to ISIS by assisting in what he believed would be a murderous terrorist bombing and gunfire attack committed in the name of the foreign terrorist organization.

Hester is a U.S. citizen who was born in Missouri. He was enlisted in the U.S. Army for less than a year, receiving a general discharge from service in mid-2013.

Hester was arrested on February 17, when he arrived at an arranged meeting with an undercover law enforcement employee. The criminal complaint was signed on Sunday and made public today, when Hester made his initial court appearance.

Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord said that as alleged in the complaint, Robert Lorenzo Hester, Jr. attempted to provide material support to ISIS by participating in what he believed would be a deadly attack committed in the name of the foreign terrorist organization.

U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson for the Western District of Missouri said that Hester repeatedly expressed his intent to engage in acts of violent jihad against the United States and believed he was part of an ISIS-sponsored terrorist attack that would result in the deaths and injuries of many innocent victims.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Jackson said that terrorism knows no demographic boundaries and remains the FBI’s top priority, and the arrest of Hester is the culmination of an extensive FBI investigation and demonstrates the challenges law enforcement faces in identifying individuals intent on causing harm.

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