Colorado woman held in death plot

First 'JihadJane,' now Colorado woman held in death plot

By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 13, 2010; 4:32 PM

Federal officials confirmed Saturday that a second suburban American woman had been apprehended in connection with a plot to kill a Swedish artist who angered the Muslim world with a derogatory drawing of the prophet Mohammad.

But authorities cautioned that Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a blond-haired mother, may have been motivated by love for an Algerian Muslim man rather than by terrorist urges when she traveled to Ireland for a rendezvous in September.

Paulin-Ramirez, 31, of suburban Denver, was taken into custody by Irish police last week on the same day that U.S. prosecutors unsealed a criminal indictment against another fair-haired American woman who allegedly used the Internet handle "JihadJane" to recruit people to further the plot.

The two apparently connected in online chat rooms, officials said Saturday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. But authorities think Colleen R. LaRose, also known as JihadJane, posed a greater danger.

LaRose, 46, of Pennsburg, Pa., will appear in a Philadelphia federal courtroom Thursday to face arraignment on charges that could send her to prison for life. LaRose told her co-conspirators that her blond hair, light eyes and small frame would help her "blend in" with Western society and avoid detection by law enforcement, according to court papers.

Paulin-Ramirez, whose identity was reported on the Web site of the Wall Street Journal, had been a nursing student and medical aide before she converted to Islam. She began covering her hair and ultimately disappeared last fall, surprising her relatives.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said officials would have "no comment on the identities of those arrested. Our investigation continues."

Law enforcement activity also continued Saturday in the case of Sharif Mobley, an American citizen born in New Jersey who had been captured in Yemen in connection with alleged terrorist activity.

Mobley drew attention because he had worked at U.S. nuclear sites, but a senior administration official told The Post that the youth had essentially served as a janitor, without access to sensitive information about the facilities.

U.S. investigators, including the FBI's Baltimore field office, are working closely with the Yemeni government on the case and are reviewing Mobley's activities and associations on American soil, the administration official said. Mobley, 26, had been on the law enforcement radar screen for at least two years, the official said.

It is unclear whether Mobley will ever return to the United States. The Yemenis suspect him of killing at least one guard in a prison fight, and they may wish to exact their own justice, authorities said.

One law enforcement source said Mobley came into contact overseas with Anwar al-Aulaqi, a radical Yemeni American cleric whose fiery rhetoric has inspired plots in Canada, Britain and the United States. Accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal M. Hasan and the Christmas underwear bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab also exchanged correspondence with Aulaqi before they took action, the source said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/13/AR2010031301532_pf.html