St. Louis Woman Pleads Guilty to Terror Support

Sedina Unkic Hodzic, 39, of St. Louis County, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, marking another fall in a sprawling federal terror network rooted in the Midwest. The guilty plea, entered before U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry, lands Hodzic in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors who have spent months dismantling a cell accused of funneling aid to violent extremists overseas.

Hodzic is one of five defendants indicted in a high-stakes terrorism conspiracy that stretches from Missouri to New York and Illinois. Charged alongside her are her husband, Ramiz Zijad Hodzic, Armin Harcevic, Nihad Rosic of Utica, New York, and Mediha Medy Salkicevic of Schiller Park, Illinois. All face charges of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists, with Ramiz Zijad Hodzic and Nihad Rosic also accused of conspiring to murder and maim persons in a foreign country.

The dominoes began falling in February 2019 when Armin Harcevic pleaded guilty, followed by Mediha Medy Salkicevic on March 21, 2019. Ramiz Zijad Hodzic entered his guilty plea on April 3, 2019. Sedina Unkic Hodzic now joins them, while other named defendants remain under indictment and have pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department reminds the public that charges are not proof of guilt—every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

By pleading guilty, Hodzic now faces up to 15 years in federal prison and/or fines of up to $250,000. When sentencing comes on August 9, 2019, Judge Perry will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which recommend specific ranges based on offense severity and criminal history. Federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of Missouri will push for maximum accountability.

The investigation was led by the FBI’s St. Louis Joint Terrorism Task Force, with critical support from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and local law enforcement including the St. Louis Metropolitan and St. Louis County Police Departments. The breadth of agencies involved underscores the layered threat federal authorities say they uncovered.

Prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew Drake, Howard Marcus, and Kenneth Tihen of the Eastern District of Missouri, alongside Trial Attorney Joshua Champagne from the Department of Justice’s Counterterrorism Section. The case continues to unfold as the final defendants face trial, and the government tightens its grip on terror support networks embedded in American communities.

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