Federal authorities have arrested a Colorado nursing student with alleged dreams of joining Al Qaeda as she arrived on U.S. soil Friday afternoon, FOX News has learned.
31-year-old Jamie Paulin-Ramirez was one of several people detained in Ireland last month, accused of joining a group of radical Islamists there planning to assassinate a Swedish cartoonist.
Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania have now now charged her with conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist group.
Her mother told Fox News three weeks ago that Paulin-Ramirez was an “insecure” person who “had no idea what she was getting herself into.”
Last month, Irish authorities arrested Paulin-Ramirez and six others in a series of raids for allegedly plotting with to claim a $100,000 Al Qaeda bounty by killing the Swedish cartoonist who drew the prophet Mohammed as a dog.
Irish authorities subsequently released her.
At the same time, a Pennsylvania woman was charged in the United States with conspiring to commit murder in the name of a Muslim holy war, or jihad.
46-year-old Colleen LaRose, who dubbed herself “Jihad Jane,” allegedly shared her radical views online and tried to recruit others through the Internet.
According to her sister, LaRose suffered from depression and attempted suicide in 2005 after the death of her father.
As for Paulin-Ramirez, her mother described her as someone who was “lonely and wanted to get someone to love her.”
“Jamie is not an evil person,” Christine Mott said. “She was sucked into something that she had no idea what she was getting herself into.”
Paulin-Ramirez fled the United States with her six-year-old son, and Mott blamed her daughter’s Algerian husband, whom she said had radical views, for the alleged involvement in the terrorist plot.
One person with knowledge of the case called Paulin-Ramirez “pretty much the most tangential” of the group accused of plotting to kill the cartoonist.
On Friday, her U.S.-bound plane was supposed to land at an airport on the East Coast around 3pm ET. Authorities planned to arrest her upon arrival.
It’s unclear if Paulin-Ramirez, dubbed “Jihad Jamie” by some, was expecting her arrest, which would suggest a deal with U.S. authorities had been reached.
She was expected to have her initial appearance late Friday in federal court in Philadelphia.