Colleen Larose
A woman in Pennsylvania who called herself ”Jihad Jane,” was found to be tied to an alleged assassination plot of a cartoonist, who had once drawn a picture of Mohammed atop of the body of a dog.
Federal prosecutors, accused Colleen R. LaRose, in an unsealed indictment, who is an American from Philadelphia of making links through the Internet with militants overseas, finally coming to an alleged ploy to murder, in order to scare non-Muslims.
LaRose, 46, was arrested in October, although the case against her remains under seal. The indictment itself does not focus on a target, although a law enforcement official spoke about her case, saying her arrest was linked to another seven Muslims being arrested on Tuesday, in Ireland with connection to a plot to kill cartoonist, Lars Vilks.
There was a $100,000 bounty put on his head for his cartoon, by an Al Qaeda linked group, who had deemed the cartoon a blasphemous insult to Islam.
Irish police arrested four men and three women in Cork and Waterford, according to European news reports.
Ms. LaRose has not been confirmed as part of the Irish assassination plot, as yet, according to a Justice Department spokesperson.
Michael L. Levy, a United States attorney for Eastern Pennsylvania, spoke regarding La Rose, saying she was only one of a handful of women to be charged with terrorism in the United States. And how today’s terrorists could blend in with every day Americans saying, “It shatters any lingering thought that we can spot a terrorist based on appearance.”
Ms. LaRose who is white, with blond hair and green eyes, according to a law enforcement official, who reportedly is not authorized to divulge details of the case and would speak only in anonymity. They added that Ms. LaRose was born in Michigan, and also lived in Texas and Montgomery County, Pa.
LaRose, according to the indictment, in 2008, began using the aliases “JihadJane” and “Fatima LaRose,” and began posting messages on YouTube and other sites, about helping Muslims. In 2009 she was exchanging emails, with unidentified co-conspirators in Asia and Europe, and had mentioned that she also had a desire to become a martyr for an Islamist cause, according to court papers.
The indictment bases around e-mails in which a conspirator, citing just how Ms. LaRose’s appearance and American passport could make it easier for her to go undetected, and had allegedly directed her in 2009, to travel to Sweden to help carry out the murder.