Colleen LaRose: Difference between revisions

Colleen Renee LaRose (born June 5, 1963, in Michigan), also known as JihadJane and Fatima LaRose, is an American citizen charged with terrorism-related crimes, including conspiracy to commit murder and providing material support to terrorists. Most recently, she lived in the Philadelphia suburb of Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She is being prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.^[2][3]

She was taken into custody in October 2009, and her arrest was made public on March 9, 2010, when her co-conspirators were arrested in Ireland.^[2] Among those arrested in Ireland was Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, an American woman from Colorado whose parents say she was recruited by LaRose. ^[4] Specifically, LaRose is accused of actively trying to recruit Islamic terrorists to wage violent jihad and of plotting to murder Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who had faced outrage by some Muslims for having made a drawing depicting the Prophet Muhammad's head on the body of a dog.^[5][6][7][2]

LaRose was born in Michigan and raised in Texas, where she dropped out of school before attending high school. She was briefly married at the age of 16 to a man twice her age, and later married and divorced another man.^[8] She lived in several Texas towns, including San Angelo, Corpus Christi (which she moved to in 1999), Round Rock, and Ferris (in the early 2000s).^[6][9]

She moved to the Philadelphia area in 2004 to live with her new boyfriend Kurt Gorman, whom she had met in Ennis, Texas, when he was on a business trip there, and help him care for his aging father.^{[6][10][7][11][12][13][2][11]} On May 21, 2005, LaRose apparently attempted suicide by consuming 8–10 cyclobenzaprine pills along with alcohol.^[3] She was saddened by the deaths in short order of her brother and father. Fearing that she might attempt suicide, her sister Pam in Texas called 911 and alerted police.^[14][15] LaRose told responding police that she did not want to die.^[16] Although she lived with Gorman for about five years and apparently converted to Islam and became radicalized during that time,^{[13][2][3][11]} he said she "never talked about international events, about Muslims, anything".^[17][18][18]

Her Myspace profile shows a number of pictures of bloodshed and violence in the Middle East, with messages such as: “Palestine We Are With You”, and “Sympathize With Gaza.”^[19][11] She is in several pictures wearing a black burka.^[19][11] In her profile, she says she is a recent convert to Islam.^[19][11] Her Myspace profile also reportedly includes a post that reads: “I support all the Mujahideen [Muslim warriors]. I hate zionist & all that support them!”^[4]

In 2007, calling herself "Fatima LaRose," she registered a social networking video-sharing profile on Dailymotion.com, and posted what appear to be attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.^[20]

On June 20, 2008, she posted a comment on YouTube using the screen name "JihadJane", saying that she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" suffering Muslims, according to authorities.^[1] By December 2008, she was exchanging e-mail messages expressing her desire to become a martyr in the name of Allah for an Islamist cause.^[2][19]

One of her co-conspirators allegedly directed her on March 22, 2009, to go to Sweden, find Vilks, "and kill him" in a way that will frighten "the whole Kufar [non-believer] world".^[2] She responded writing: "I will make this my goal till I achieve it or die trying", according to her indictment.^[2]

On July 1, she allegedly posted an online solicitation for funds to support terrorism.^[2] U.S. authorities were alerted in July by members of the Jawa Report, a forum for civilians concerned about Islamic terrorism, who had begun tracking LaRose's comments on the internet and her movements, including her raising funds for Pakistani militants through Twitter.^[9][21] The FBI interviewed her on July 17, 2009, and she denied ever soliciting funds for terrorism, or using the online screen name of "JihadJane."^[1]

On August 23, 2009, LaRose stole Gorman's passport in order to provide it to the "brothers", and flew to Western Europe "with the intent to live and train with jihadists, and to find and kill" Vilks, according to prosecutors.^[6][2] She then joined an online community hosted by Vilks on September 8.^[1] On September 30, she allegedly sent an online message to a co-conspirator, saying that it would be "an honor & great pleasure to die or kill" for him, and promising that "only death will stop me here that I am so close to the target!"^[1] During her time in Europe, she was reportedly in London, the Netherlands, and for approximately two weeks in Ireland.^[9][22][23]

LaRose was arrested on October 16, 2009, at Philadelphia International Airport as she returned from London, and confessed her role in the plot to kill Vilks to FBI agents shortly after her arrest, according to two people close to the investigation.^[9] But her imprisonment was kept secret until her indictment was unsealed on March 9, 2010.^[6] In a court appearance before a federal magistrate on October 17, she agreed to pretrial detention, but didn't enter a plea.^[13][1] She was kept under wraps in custody in Philadelphia without bail until her indictment was unsealed, to protect another ongoing investigation.^[24][25]

The indictment of LaRose charged that she linked up with militants outside the U.S. through the internet, and plotted to carry out a murder, and that she and five unindicted co-conspirators (in South Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the U.S.) recruited men and women over the internet to wage jihad and be terrorists in South Asia and Europe and to finance terrorism.^{[19][1][2][26]} She was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to the FBI, and attempted identity theft.^[1][2] Swedish authorities said they were aware of the arrest before it happened.^[27]

U.S. Representative Charles W. Dent (R., PA), said on March 17 that the FBI had briefed him about LaRose, and that his "understanding is that the cooperation has generally stopped at this point."^[9]

LaRose faces arraignment on March 18, 2010.^[25] If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $1 million fine.^[28]

In 2007, Vilks had become embroiled in an international controversy after he made a drawing depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad's head atop the body of a dog, as a roundabout dog.^[19][29] The drawing played off a Swedish fad of the time of installing public art of canines in the middle of traffic circles.^[30] "It's not a nasty attack on the prophet," he said. "It's more of a satire, but people have no sense of humor."^[6]

The Swedish regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published the drawing on August 18, 2007, to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion.^[31] It enraged some Muslims, spurring a controversy that led to Vilks receiving several death threats, including one by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, which offered up to $150,000 for his assassination--and subsequently led to his living under police protection.^{[3][19][32][33][34]} The al-Qaeda bounty included a 50% bonus if he were "slaughtered like a lamb" by having his throat cut.^[35] In response, Vilks told reporters: "I suppose this makes my art project a bit more serious. It's also good to know how much one is worth."^[36]

At least three Swedish newspapers republished the drawing on March 10, 2010, including the Stockholm paper Dagens Nyheter, which said in an editorial: "Vilks doesn't stand alone in this conflict. A threat against him is, in the long term, also a threat against all Swedes."^[37]

The same day as the unsealing of LaRose's indictment, four men and three women in their 20s and 40s were arrested in Waterford and Cork, Ireland, with regard to an alleged plot to assassinate Vilks.^[27][38][1] Police officers close to the investigation said those arrested were foreign-born Irish residents.^[38]

They reportedly included three Algerians (two of them a married couple), a Croatian (a Muslim convert), a Palestinian, a Libyan, and a U.S. national—Jamie Paulin-Ramirez.^[23][39] By March 15, only two of the seven, an Algerian and a Libyan, were being kept in custody and charged, though lawyers said charges against the other five were also possible.^[39] The Algerian, Ali Charaf Damache, a 10-year resident of Ireland, was suspected of being the group’s leader, and the Libyan, Abdul Salam al-Jahani, were both ordered held without bail.^[39]

LaRose had online discussions with at least one of the suspects apprehended in Ireland regarding her plans, according to a U.S. official.^[13] Her main contact in Ireland was believed to be Damache, who lived in Waterford with Paulin-Ramirez.^[40] Irish police believe LaRose visited Ireland in 2009 to enlist and aid those involved.^[41]

The Irish police force (Garda Síochána) were alerted by the FBI in October 2009 about the Irish link to the alleged murder plot, and a Garda investigation was put in place to covertly gather as much information as possible on the Irish-based suspects.^[42] Garda said that throughout the investigation they worked closely with law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and in a number of European countries.^[38] The charges against LaRose were reportedly related to the Irish investigation.^[6]

The arrested American, Jamie Paulin-Ramirez (née Holcomb), 31 years old at the time of her arrest, is a Kansas City, Missouri-born former medical assistant from Leadville, Colorado, who had converted to Islam in 2009.^{[23][39][43][44]} She grew up in Blue Springs, Missouri, and graduated from Blue Springs High School in 1997.^[43] She left Leadville with her son on September 11, 2009, saying she was going to Denver to see a friend, and later told her family she had moved to Ireland to marry Damache.^[44] She was reportedly living with him, and pregnant, at the time of her arrest.^[44][45]

According to her mother, Paulin-Ramirez changed her six-year-old son Christian’s name to "Walid" when she enrolled him in a radical Muslim school in Ireland, and when he spoke to his grandmother he asked that she give the new family kitten his old name, Christian.^[44][46] He reportedly told his grandmother: "You need to convert to Islam right now, because Christians are going to burn in hellfire."^[44] He also told her he was being taught how to shoot a gun.^[47] The six-year-old told his grandfather: "We are building pipes (pipe bombs), like the Fourth of July!"^[47] As the grandfather, who is Muslim, spoke to the boy on the phone, he could hear a Jihadi recruitment tape in the background, advocating death to Zionists and America.^[47]

Paulin-Ramirez was released from custody in Ireland on March 16, 2010, without being charged.^[48][39] Her parents said she had talked over the internet to al Qaeda member and former Colorado resident Najibullah Zazi, who pleaded guilty in February 2010 of planning to bomb the New York subway system.^[47][49][44] Her parents think LaRose recruited her, and introduced her to her Algerian husband.^[47]

Only a few women other than LaRose have been charged with terrorism-related offenses in the U.S., according to Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd.^[6] LaRose is the only American woman in recent years to have been charged in the U.S. with terrorist violations and attempting to foment a terror conspiracy to kill someone overseas.^[50]

In February 2010, another woman–Aafia Siddiqui, a Muslim Pakistani alleged al-Qaeda member who lived in Houston and Boston and studied at MIT and Brandeis University–was convicted in New York City in a terrorism-related case of attempting to kill U.S. military and law enforcement officials.^{[51][6][52][7][13][25]}

According to the Anti-Defamation League, a few other American women have been arrested on terrorism charges in the U.S. In 2006, a naturalized American citizen from Iran was indicted in New York for providing material support to the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, which is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.^[53] Another female American, Lynne Stewart, was convicted in 2005 for passing messages between convicted terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman and his followers in Egypt.^[54] In 2003, American-born October Martinique Lewis was sentenced to three years in prison for laundering money to the Portland Seven, a group of men from Oregon who attempted to join the Taliban.^[55]

Some terrorism experts pointed to LaRose's apparent mental instability, arguing she was an anomaly and not representative of a trend towards women jihadists.^[56]

• Michael Finton, American convert to Islam, attempted 2009 bombing of U.S. target with FBI agent he thought was al-Qaeda member
• Nidal Malik Hasan, American Fort Hood shooter; 2009
• Sharif Mobley, American suspected al-Qaeda member, arrested in Yemen in 2010 and suspected of killing guard in escape attempt
• Bryant Neal Vinas, American convert to Islam, convicted in 2009 of participating in/supporting Al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S.
• Najibullah Zazi, al-Qaeda member, U.S. resident, pleaded guilty in 2010 of planning suicide bombings on New York City subway system
• 2009 detention of Americans by Pakistan, five Muslim Americans charged by Pakistan in 2010 with terrorism-related offenses