The FBI arrested Jessica Bowie, 35, on Wednesday in connection with a plot to attack the New York State Capitol building in Albany, according to a federal criminal complaint and the New York Times.
Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney's office in the Northern District of New York were expected to announce charges against Bowie on Thursday afternoon, and law enforcement officials planned to hold a news briefing in Albany that afternoon, according to three people familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The FBI alleged in the complaint that Bowie pledged allegiance to ISIS in online communications and began planning the attack in July. She is American and had been living in the Albany area, according to people familiar with the investigation.
Bowie allegedly discussed her plans with FBI informants and spent weeks conducting surveillance of the Capitol, including taking photographs from various vantage points, among them an "observation hall nearby," the complaint said.
On Aug. 5, she allegedly bought bomb-making materials from a hardware store and continued plotting with the informants over the following two weeks, according to the complaint.
The informants met with Bowie on Wednesday and provided her with an inert explosive device and an inert handgun, along with instructions on how to detonate the explosive, the complaint said. She was arrested by the FBI soon after.
