Ex-Boyfriend Of 'Jihad Jane' Speaks Out

PENNSBURG, Pa. - The indictment of "Jihad Jane" shows the evolution of terror threats now facing our country and the world.

Now, many are wondering how a local woman allegedly got involved with terrorists in the first place.

If her suburban Philadelphia neighbors had no idea that an accused terrorist was living among them, imagine the man who works here and took over his father's business not having a clue that his live-in girlfriend of five years was living a double life.

"We were together about five years," said Kurt Gorman, who may have one of the strangest ex-girlfriend stories ever.

Asked what his reaction would have been beforehand if someone had said LaRose was a threat to national security, Gorman said, "I would never – I would have thought it was a joke."

Gorman met LaRose in a small Texas town when he was working on the transmitter at the radio station where LaRose's father was the general manager.

They hit it off, and she headed with him back to live in Montgomery County.

"I thought she was OK, and we got along, and seemed OK," Gorman said.

After his father died, Gorman took over his father's business in Quakertown in August. And the day after his father's funeral, he then lost his girlfriend, LaRose – really lost her. As in, he had no idea where she went or what happened to her. She just left.

"I learned more from the news the past couple of days than I have, so, but I just can't really believe it," Gorman said.

He since learned that August day was when LaRose went to Europe, federal authorities now allege, to track down the Swedish artist whose drawing of the prophet Mohammed got him death threats.

Gorman said he had no hint even that his girlfriend had been in the Internet offering herself in service of terrorist causes and Muslim jihadists until he read about the charges and her arrest.

The FBI had come to ask him questions but gave him few answers about why and what they were asking.

"I figured they're doing their job, so I think it actually helps the rest of us here with them doing their job there because, you know, this is a case that you wouldn't believe there," Gorman said. "So, maybe there's other cases like that out there."

Over the holidays, a subpoena came to Gorman's home ordering him to testify before a federal grand jury.

While Gorman was before the grand jury, he was asked whether he had ever given his passport to LaRose. He said he didn't.

Well, among all of the charges now lodged against LaRose is stealing Gorman's passport to possibly give it to a jihadist, authorities allege.

Asked if he ever saw her on the Internet, her MySpace or YouTube pages, Gorman said he's simply not a guy who goes on the Internet himself. He figured she was likely just at home watching soap operas and cleaning the house all day while he was at work.

He's just a guy who still can't believe his small-town Texas girlfriend is now charged with being involved in a big-time international terror ring, Keeley reported.