By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 14, 2010; A02

Federal officials confirmed Saturday that a second suburban American woman was apprehended in connection with a plot to kill a Swedish artist who angered the Muslim world with a derogatory drawing of the prophet Muhammad.

But authorities cautioned that Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, a blond-haired mother, may have been motivated by love for an Algerian Muslim man rather than terrorist urges when she traveled to Ireland for a rendezvous in September.

Paulin-Ramirez, 31, of suburban Denver, was taken into custody by Irish police last week on the same day that U.S. prosecutors unsealed a criminal indictment against another fair-haired American woman, who allegedly used the Internet handle "JihadJane" to recruit people to further the plot.

The two women apparently connected in online chat rooms, officials said Saturday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing. But authorities believe Colleen Renee LaRose, also known as JihadJane, posed a greater danger.

LaRose, 46, of Pennsburg, Pa., will appear in a Philadelphia federal courtroom Thursday to face arraignment on charges that could send her to prison for life. LaRose told her alleged co-conspirators that her blond hair, light eyes and small frame would help her "blend in" and avoid detection by law enforcement, according to court papers.

Paulin-Ramirez, whose identity was first reported on the Web site of the Wall Street Journal, had been a nursing student and medical aide before she converted to Islam, began covering her hair and disappeared last fall, surprising her relatives.

Irish police said Saturday that four people arrested in connection with the Swedish plot, including an American woman, have been freed without charge, but three others remain in custody, the Associated Press reported. Police did not confirm whether Paulin-Ramirez was the woman in custody, and have not released the identities of those arrested.

Law enforcement activity also continued Saturday in the case of Sharif Mobley, a U.S. citizen born in New Jersey who had been captured in Yemen in connection with alleged terrorist activity.

Mobley drew attention because he had worked at nuclear sites in the United States, but a senior administration official told The Washington Post that the youth had essentially served as a janitor, without access to sensitive information about the facilities.

U.S. investigators, including those at the FBI's Baltimore field office, are working closely with the Yemeni government on the case and are reviewing Mobley's activities and associations on American soil, the administration official said. Mobley had been on the law enforcement radar screen for at least two years, the official said.

It is unclear whether Mobley will ever return to the United States.

The Yemenis suspect him of killing at least one guard, and they may wish to exact their own form of justice, authorities said.

One law enforcement source said Mobley came into contact overseas with Anwar al-Aulaqi, a radical Yemeni American cleric whose fiery rhetoric is said to have inspired plots in Canada, Britain and the United States.