Madison man tried to join ISIS

A 34-year-old Madison man has been convicted of trying to offer his services to the Islamic State in 2014.

Joshua Van Haften pleaded guilty in federal court in Madison on Thursday to attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, U.S. Attorney John W. Vaudreuil announced.

Van Haften had been charged in 2014 after he went to Turkey and tried to cross into Syria. He had posted online that he had taken an oath of loyalty to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), often referred to as simply the Islamic State, or ISIS, for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

“The only thing that matters to me is joining my brothers for the war against America (sic) liars,”  Van Haften wrote.

Van Haften never made it to Syria and was arrested by immigration authorities in Turkey. In May 2015, he was sent back to the United States, arrested upon his arrival at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and has remained in custody. He now faces up to 15 years in prison at his sentencing Feb. 27.

According to court records, Van Haften went to Egypt from October 2012 to January 2014. While there, he drew the attention of police by photographing a military facility. The U.S. Embassy was notified, and it discovered Van Haften was a registered sex offender and he was sent back to the U.S.

That August, a woman's 11-year-old son was talking to Van Haften near the state Capitol and said Van Haften mentioned joining the Islamic State. The mother contacted authorities and shortly later he left for Turkey, where he posted numerous Facebook posts promoting jihad and chronicling his efforts to get into Syria.

In addition to his 1999 child sexual assault conviction, online court records show Van Haften was convicted of disorderly conduct in 2007, and then in 2014, of failing to provide information as a sex offender. Both of those charges were misdemeanors. And in 1998, he pleaded guilty to substantial battery, a felony. All of those convictions were in Rock County.