All-American 'Jihad Jane' arrested in terror plot

NEW YORK — The green-eyed, blond woman living in a Philadelphia suburb fit the stereotypical profile of a "Main Street" American: Neighbours would see Colleen LaRose shopping, and stopped to say "hello"; at least one woman sent her kids to a Halloween party a couple of years ago that LaRose threw for neighbourhood children.

But those same neighbours, along with her former boyfriend, expressed shock Wednesday after U.S. prosecutors said LaRose, 46, from Pennsburg, Pa., faces terrorism charges in a plot that saw her use the online alias "Jihad Jane."

A convert to Islam, LaRose is accused of working with overseas Islamic extremists via the Internet to recruit other men and women to wage and support "violent jihad."

Prosecutors also believe she agreed to murder a Swedish cartoonist who had depicted the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body, and had taken steps to use the fact that she was a white American to get close to the artist, Lars Vilks, without raising suspicion.

"This case shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance," said Michael L. Levy, the chief U.S. prosecutor for eastern Pennsylvania.

David Kris, head of the U.S. Justice Department's national security division, said the indictment "underscores the evolving nature of the threat we face."

A reflection of the U.S. government's increasing concern over the threat of "homegrown" terrorists, the Federal Bureau of Investigation kept LaRose's Oct. 15 arrest under wraps as investigators probed for additional U.S.-based suspects.

Prosecutors made the indictment public just hours after Irish police arrested seven people Tuesday — three women and four men — and accused them of also seeking to kill Vilks, who saw a $100,000 bounty placed on his head by al-Qaida after he drew the cartoon in 2007.

The indictment against LaRose does not specifically identify Vilks as her target, but does say she agreed to an order "directing her to commit murder" in Sweden, and that she should do so in a way that would frighten the "whole Kufar (non-believer) world."

A Justice Department statement says LaRose "travelled to Europe and tracked the intended target online in an effort to complete her task."

If convicted of the murder charges and others related to providing material support for terrorists, LaRose faces up to life in prison and a $1 million fine.

Until Aug. 23, LaRose had been living with her boyfriend, Kurt Gorman, and helping him care for his ailing father.

But she abruptly moved out after the elder Gorman died that month, leaving her former boyfriend stunned but still oblivious to any alleged double life.

"Why would you take care of somebody if you just wanted to hurt people," Gorman told CNN inside his second-floor duplex unit where the couple of lived in Montgomery County, Pa.

"It just seems like a conflict," he added.

According to the indictment, LaRose had posted a comment on YouTube in June 2008 under the username 'Jihad Jane,' "stating that she is 'desperate to do something, somehow to help' the suffering Muslim people."

It also says she corresponded with five unindicted co-conspirators — to whom she also became known as Fatima LaRose — and said she wanted "to become a martyr."

In one e-mail, she said her physical appearance would allow her to "blend in with many people" which "may be a way to achieve what is in my heart,'" the indictment says.

FBI agents visited Gorman in October 2009 to question him about LaRose. He told them that she hadn't had any specific hobbies, but that she did spend quite a bit of time on the Internet. He added he'd only seen her playing video games and listening to music.

As is typical for the FBI in such an investigation, the agents did not explain to Gorman why they were interested in knowing more about LaRose, who arrived in Pennsylvania from Texas in 2004.

Gorman said LaRose left him without saying a word — he returned from work one day and she was gone.

He later discovered his passport was missing, which he reported to authorities. The Justice Department statement says she "stole another individual's U.S. passport and transferred or attempted to transfer it in an effort to facilitate an act of international terrorism."

Several of LaRose's former neighbours said in local TV interviews that, in hindsight, there were one or two oddities about her.

"It was two years ago that my kids were at her Halloween party," said one. "She was kind of weird; she looked nice, but there was a strange vibe that you got from her. It was something about her that just irritated me; I didn't want my kids to be there."

The neighbour told how LaRose, who is believed not to have any children, constantly invited the neighbourhood kids into her house. Another said LaRose "talked to her cats."

A third neighbour said interactions with LaRose were cordial when they passed in common places, like a shared laundry room or the grocery store.

"If you suspected everybody that you deal with every day, it would be a very unhappy world," this neighbour said.

The indictment says LaRose agreed to obtain residency in a European country and to marry one of the terror suspects with whom she was communicating. She also wrote on a social networking site about marrying a Muslim man overseas.

Records show that prior to the indictment, LaRose had been arrested twice in 1997: once for driving while intoxicated and once for a bad cheque in Texas.

A 2005 police report shows she attempted suicide in a pill overdose. Police recorded she was depressed about the death of her father.