Crazy or terrorist: people can become exceedingly dangerous

"(CNN) -- Colleen LaRose, the Pennsylvania woman indicted for allegedly conspiring to support terrorists and kill a person in a foreign country, attempted to commit suicide in 2005, according to a police report filed at the time.

 

LaRose, who authorities say called herself "Jihad Jane," was depressed about the death of her father, the report from Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, Police Officer Michael Devlin said.

LaRose told Devlin she swallowed as many as 10 pills of cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant. The pills were mixed with alcohol.

 

"Colleen was highly intoxicated and having difficulty maintaining her balance," Devlin wrote. I "questioned LaRose about harming herself, at which point she stated she does not want to die."

Devlin was dispatched to check on LaRose in response to a 911 call made by LaRose's sister in Texas, who was worried LaRose might try to kill herself.

 

LaRose was arrested on the terrorism charges in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 15, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday. She is being held at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

 

She will be arraigned at 10:30 a.m. March 18 in Philadelphia, the Justice Department said.

 

Among other things, LaRose has also been charged with making false statements to a government official and attempted identity theft. If convicted, she faces a possible life prison sentence and a $1 million fine.

 

Last year, LaRose agreed to kill a resident of Sweden, an indictment says, and a U.S. government official familiar with the case identified the target as Lars Vilks, a cartoonist who outraged some with a drawing of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.

 

LaRose worked with at least five co-conspirators, the indictment says. Authorities did not identify them, but police in Ireland took into custody seven people in arrests Tuesday that the U.S. official said were directly related to the plot involving LaRose.

 

Authorities in Ireland said the seven people they arrested also were plotting to commit a murder abroad. Irish media reports, citing unnamed police sources, identified their target as Vilks.

A person from Pennsburg who knew LaRose said she "didn't have the smarts or brains" to pull off the alleged plot.

 

"Not without someone telling her what to do, maybe even brainwashing her," said the person, who asked not to be identified for privacy reasons. It appears that LaRose was not well known in her neighborhood in Pennsburg, which is about an hour north of Philadelphia. One neighbor reacted to the news by saying, "It scares the hell out of me."

 

Meanwhile, LaRose's former boyfriend, Kurt Gorman, told CNN on Wednesday that the circumstances surrounding her arrest are "just crazy ... really crazy."

 

Gorman said that when he lived with LaRose, she spent most of her time at home and frequently used a personal computer.

 

"I think she just used it to play games mostly," he said. "I really didn't pay much attention."

 

The alleged terrorist conspiracy began in June 2008, when LaRose posted a comment on YouTube under the username JihadJane saying she was "desperate to do something somehow to help" Muslims, according to a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday.

 

From December 2008 to October 2009, LaRose engaged in electronic communication with five alleged co-conspirators about their shared desires to wage jihad and become martyrs, according to the indictment."