Hephzibah woman accused of helping ISIS waives indictment; sentencing scheduled

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

News 12 at 6 o'clock/NBC at 7

HEPHZIBAH, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A Hephzibah woman accused of helping ISIS waives her indictment on several federal charges.

Now, a judge is scheduled to determine her sentencing on October 17th.

News 12 learned she was a cyber student and she was taking hacking courses at Augusta Tech. Her friends and classmates did not think she was doing anything criminal let alone a crime against the country.

Kim Vo was also known as Fang, Zozo, Miss Bones, Sage, and Kitty Lee but, she was simply known as a friend to Austin Robertson.

"We got a little closer that's when I got into the hacker thing with her. I asked her questions about it and everything," said Robertson.

She started at Hephzibah High but then transferred to the alternative school where they met.

"She used to write code and everything, carried a book like hacking one on one, coding for dummies or something like that," said Robertson.

He claims it was common knowledge, at least to students, that Kim would hack into the school system.

"She had changed the grades for them. I don’t see how the school didn’t you know notice that," said Robertson.

That was around the same time investigators say the teen joined an ISIS group.

"I was like, there's no way. I mean yeah I know she changed grades and everything but this, like ISIS like what,” said Robertson.

While the federal government says she's known as someone who helped publish a kill list and ISIS propaganda while helping recruit other teens at Augusta Tech, they only knew her as a classmate.

The 20-year-old was a cyber student was taking hacking courses designed for our country's security not to be used against our country.

"I don’t think anybody ever wants to see their friend their go to jail or prison, especially for something as serious as this,” said Robertson.

Back in 2017, court documents say she went to the police and tried to admit what she was doing.

News 12 will continue to bring you the latest in this story.