'JihadJane' expected to plead guilty Tuesday in terror plot

Colleen LaRose, the suburban Philadelphia woman known as "JihadJane," is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to her alleged role in a terror plot to kill a Swedish artist.

LaRose's arrest in October 2009, shortly after a flight from London to Philadelphia, garnered international attention as counterterrorism officials said she represented a new and alarming threat - an American-born woman who had joined an Islamic terror conspiracy.

U.S. officials allege that LaRose, using the names JihadJane and Fatima LaRose, bragged online that she could use her identity - her Western face, blond hair, and U.S. passport - to help terrorists achieve their goals.

The 47-year-old woman, who lived in Pennsburg, Montgomery County, was accused in an indictment of intending to live and train with jihadists, and to find and kill the Swedish artist, whose work insulted some Muslims.

LaRose pleaded not guilty last year. According to a short notice filed in federal court in Philadelphia on Friday, she is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Petrese B. Tucker for a hearing in which she is expected to change her plea to guilty.

Patty Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, and Mark Wilson, LaRose's defense lawyer, declined to comment on the hearing. Hartman said any further paperwork would not be released until Tuesday.

LaRose was scheduled to stand trial on terrorism and conspiracy charges in May, along with a codefendant from Leadville, Colo., Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, who was charged with providing material aid to the conspirators.

Paulin-Ramirez is still scheduled to stand trial in Philadelphia in May. Her lawyer, Jeremy Ibrahim, could not be reached for comment Friday.

The indictment alleges that LaRose used the Internet, especially YouTube, to conspire with jihadists in Europe. An American group called JawaReport, which monitors the Internet for extremists, reported LaRose to the FBI in Philadelphia in 2009, and she was arrested that fall at the airport here, following a trip to Ireland.

Last year, law enforcement sources told The Inquirer that LaRose confessed to her role in a plot to target Swedish artist Lars Vilk, who in 2007 drew a dog with the head of Muhammad.

Rep. Charles W. Dent (R., Pa.), who represents the district where LaRose lives, has suggested that any cooperation LaRose gave was short-lived. In an interview last year, Dent, who was briefed by the FBI, said: "My understanding is that the cooperation has generally stopped."

"I'm not sure they're going to get much out of her going forward," he said during last year's interview.

LaRose's travel to Europe in mid-2009 included an alleged visit to Ireland to meet coconspirators. Her arrest in Philadelphia in October 2009 was kept secret until March 2010, when Irish law enforcement officials swept up a ring of seven alleged terrorist plotters there.

In Ireland, five of those arrested have since been released. Two men, an Algerian and a Libyan, remain in custody, charged with minor offenses, according to news reports there.