PHILADELPHIA — A Colorado woman will plead guilty in federal court in Philadelphia on Tuesday to a count of providing material aid to terrorists, her lawyer said Thursday.
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez of Leadville was charged in the same indictment as Colleen LaRose, the Pennsburg, Pa., woman known as Jihad Jane.
LaRose pleaded guilty last month to participating in a plot to kill a Swedish artist who offended some Muslims by drawing a picture of Muhammad with the body of a dog.
E-mails that LaRose apparently sent show that she offered to use her identity — blond hair, Western face and U.S. passport — to help extremists in Europe.
LaRose and Paulin-Ramirez began e-mailing each other in August 2009. According to the indictment, LaRose wrote that she was moving to Europe “to join the brothers and sisters,” and Paulin-Ramirez responded, “I would love to go over there.”
The women first met a month later, when, the government alleges, they arrived in Ireland to meet with terrorists. As part of the plot, prosecutors said, Paulin-Ramirez married a co-conspirator the day she arrived in Ireland, a man she had never met.
Paulin-Ramirez’s attorney, Jeremy H.G. Ibrahim, said his client played a lesser role than LaRose.
“A common misconception is that she was a cohort of LaRose,” he said. “But when you look at the maximums, LaRose is facing life in prison, and Jamie is charged with just one count that carries a potential maximum of 15 years.”
If Paulin-Ramirez pleads guilty, U.S. District Judge Petrese B. Tucker is likely to sentence both women this summer.
