Colleen LaRose Colleen Renee LaRose ( born June 5 , 1963 ) , also known as JihadJane and Fatima LaRose , is an American citizen who pleaded guilty in February 2011 to charges in terrorism - related crimes , including conspiracy to commit murder and providing material support to terrorists . She had married at age 16 and never finished high school . After a quick divorce , she later married again at age 24 , and divorced after a decade . She had moved from Texas in 2004 to live in Pennsburg , near Reading , Pennsylvania . After personal losses and attempting suicide in 2005 , she converted to Islam at some later time . She is being prosecuted in the U . S . District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania . LaRose was taken into custody in October 2009 , and her arrest was made public on March 9 , 2010 , after seven alleged co - conspirators were arrested in Ireland ( five were later released by the Irish authorities ) . Among those arrested in Ireland ( later released by the Irish authorities , but then arrested by U . S . authorities and charged as a co - defendant with LaRose in a superseding indictment ) was Jamie Paulin - Ramirez , an American woman from Colorado , whose parents say she was recruited by LaRose . Specifically , LaRose was charged with trying to recruit Islamic terrorist s to wage violent Jihad and of plotting to murder the Swedish artist Lars Vilks , who had drawn a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad . She was arraigned and initially pleaded not guilty on March 18 , 2010 . She faced a maximum penalty of life in prison , and a $ 1 million fine . On February 1 , 2011 she pleaded guilty to all charges against her . Background . 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 Sheldon Barnum , who was 32 at the time . She later married Rodolfo " Rudy " Cavazos in 1988 , when she was 24 years old ; the marriage ended in divorce ten years later in 1998 . 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 ) . 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 . She helped him care for his aging father . Saddened by the deaths in short order of her brother and father , LaRose apparently attempted suicide on May 21 , 2005 , by consuming 8 – 10 cyclobenzaprine pills along with alcohol . Her sister Pam in Texas had been worried about her and called 911 to alert police . LaRose told responding police that she did not want to die . She lived with Gorman for about five years . During that period , she apparently converted to Islam and became radicalized , but Gorman said that she " never talked about international events , about Muslims , anything " . Conversion to Islam . Her Myspace profile features images of bloodshed and violence in the Middle East , with messages such as : “ Palestine We Are With You ” , and “ Sympathize With Gaza . ” In her profile , she says she is a recent convert to Islam . Her Myspace profile also reportedly includes a post that reads : “ I support all the " Mujahideen " [ Muslim warriors ] . I hate zionist & all that support them ! ” In 2007 , calling herself " Fatima LaRose , " she registered a social networking video - sharing profile on Dailymotion . com . She posted copies of what appear to be attacks on U . S . troops in Iraq . On June 20 , 2008 , she posted a comment on YouTube using the screen name " JihadJane " ( account is suspended ) , saying that she was " desperate to do something somehow to help " suffering Muslims , according to authorities . 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 . One of her co - conspirators allegedly identified Lars Vilks as a target ; the Swedish artist who had outraged some Muslims by drawing a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad . LaRose was directed on March 22 , 2009 , to go to Sweden , to find and kill Vilks to frighten " the whole Kufar [ non - believer ] world " . According to her indictment , she responded in writing : " I will make this my goal till I achieve it or die trying " . On July 1 , LaRose allegedly posted an online solicitation for funds to support terrorism . U . S . authorities were alerted in July by members of the Jawa Report blog , who had begun tracking LaRose ' s comments on the internet and her movements , including her raising funds for Pakistani militants through Twitter . The FBI interviewed her on July 17 , 2009 , and she denied soliciting funds for terrorism , or using the online screen name of " JihadJane . " On August 23 , 2009 , LaRose stole Gorman ' s passport and flew to Western Europe . Prosecutors say the purpose of the trip was " to live and train with jihadists , and to find and kill " Vilks . She joined an online community hosted by Vilks on September 8 . 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 ! " During her time in Europe , she reportedly traveled in London , the Netherlands , and for approximately two weeks in Ireland . While she wrote to the Swedish embassy in March 2009 , inquiring how to obtain residency , the court documents do not indicate whether she reached Sweden . Arrest , indictment , and arraignment . LaRose was arrested on Oct 16 , 2009 , at Philadelphia International Airport as she returned from London . She allegedly confessed her role in the plot to kill Vilks to FBI agents shortly after her arrest , according to two people close to the investigation . Her imprisonment was kept secret until her indictment was unsealed on March 9 , 2010 . In a court appearance before a federal magistrate on October 17 , she agreed to pretrial detention , but did not enter a plea . She was kept in custody in Philadelphia without bail until her indictment was unsealed , to protect another investigation . 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 . It said 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 . 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 . Swedish authorities said they were aware of the arrest before it happened . LaRose was arraigned on March 18 , 2010 , and pleaded not guilty to all four counts . United States magistrate judge Lynne Sitarski set her trial date for May 3 , 2010 ; during the interim she remained in federal custody . If convicted , she faced a maximum penalty of life in prison , and a $ 1 million fine . On February 1 , 2011 LaRose changed her plea to all charges . Ireland arrests . 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 , Republic of Ireland , with regard to an alleged plot to assassinate Vilks . Gardai close to the investigation said those arrested were foreign - born Irish residents . 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 . 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 . The Algerian , Ali Charaf Damache , aka Theblackflag , 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 . LaRose had online discussions with at least one of the suspects apprehended in Ireland regarding her plans , according to a U . S . official . Her main contact in Ireland was believed to be Damache , who lived in Waterford with Paulin - Ramirez . Gardai believe LaRose visited Ireland in 2009 to enlist and aid those involved . The 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 . Garda said that throughout the investigation they worked closely with law enforcement agencies in the U . S . and in a number of European countries . The charges against LaRose were reportedly related to the Irish investigation . LaRose was 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 . Some terrorism experts pointed to LaRose ' s apparent mental instability , arguing she was an anomaly and not representative of a trend towards women jihadists .