America’s Jihad Jane pleads not guilty

LONDON - An Pennsylvania woman dubbed as America’s “Jihad Jane” has pleaded not guilty for plotting to murder in a foreign country.olleen LaRose, 46, who was accused of plotting a conspiracy to murder a Swedish cartoonist, appeared before a federal court wearing a green jumpsuit and with corn rows in her blonde hair, The Telegraph reports.

A May 3 trial date has been set.

Authorities claim that LaRose wanted to kill the Swedish artist who had offended Muslims, and grew acquainted online with violent co-conspirators from around the world.

In a YouTube video, LaRose said she was “desperate to do something” to ease the suffering of Muslims.

LaRose spent most of her life in Texas, where she dropped out of high school, married at 16 and again at 24, and racked up a few minor arrests.

After her second divorce, LaRose followed a boyfriend to Pennsylvania and began caring for his father while he worked long hours.

As she moved through her 40s without a job or any outside hobbies, her boyfriend said she started spending more time online.

However, her boyfriend Kurt Gorman does not consider her religious.

In August she stole her boyfriend’s passport and fled to Europe without telling him, making good on her online pledge to try to kill in the name of Allah, according to the indictment.

From June 2008 until her August 2009 departure for Europe, the woman who also called herself “Fatima Rose” went online to recruit male fighters for the cause, the indictment charged.

She had also agreed to marry one of her overseas contacts, a man from South Asia who said he could deal bombs and explosives, it added. (ANI)