By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Brooklyn woman who faces a resentencing for supporting Islamic State but skipped a court hearing because she feared being sent back to prison has been arrested in New Mexico, U.S. prosecutors said.
Sinmyah Amera Ceasar, who prosecutors said used the name “Umm Nutella” in her role as a “committed recruiter” for Islamic State, was arrested on Friday afternoon by FBI agents following a nationwide search, prosecutors said in a letter on Sunday.
Ceasar, 26, had missed a scheduled appearance in Brooklyn federal court on Aug. 25, one week after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan threw out what it called her “shockingly low” four-year prison term and ordered her resentenced.
In their letter to U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto, prosecutors said Ceasar, when she was arrested, did not have the GPS ankle bracelet she was supposed to wear, and before fleeing had told others she “expected to be sent to prison” at the Aug. 25 conference.
Prosecutors also said Ceasar should remain in federal custody, given that “there is no longer any conceivable argument that she is not a risk of flight.”
Federal public defenders who represent Ceasar were not immediately available on Monday for comment.
Ceasar had received her four-year term in 2019 from late U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein, who cited her need for educational and mental health support after a lifetime of abuse.
In throwing out that sentence, the appeals court called it too short relative to “similar terrorism crimes” and did not ensure just punishment.
Ceasar had been out of prison since July 2020, having received credit for time served.
She was originally arrested in November 2016, began cooperating with prosecutors, and pleaded guilty in 2017 to conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
