BALTIMORE -- A Maryland woman accused of acting as an Iraqi spy was released to a halfway house Thursday evening, where she will undergo a mental evaluation.

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Woman Insists She's Innocent

New York authorities said Susan Lindauer (pictured, left), 41, was arrested Takoma Park, Md. She appeared in court later Thursday in Baltimore, where she used her house as her $500,000 bond.

Lindauer is accused of conspiring to act as a spy for the Iraqi Intelligence Service and with engaging in prohibited financial transactions involving the government of Iraq.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges Lindauer made multiple visits to the Iraqi UN Mission in Manhattan between October 1999 and March 2002.

According to documents, she allegedly met with several members of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, the foreign intelligence arm of the government of Iraq that allegedly has played a role in terrorist operations.

The government said she accepted payments from the Iraqis for her services and expenses amounting to a total of $10,000, including $5,000 she received during a trip to Baghdad in February and March 2002, where she met with Iraqi intelligence officers.

Her acceptance of the money and her willingness to bring it home from Iraq violated a law prohibiting transactions with a government that sponsors international terrorism, the government said. The indictment did not specify a motive.

Federal agents were at Lindauer's home Thursday and removed several boxes marked as evidence.

Prosecutors said she has not yet been assigned a defense lawyer.

If convicted, Lindaur faces a maximum sentence of five years for conspiracy, 10 years for acting as an unregistered agent of the government of Iraq, and 10 years for engaging in a prohibited finanical transaction with Iraq.

Lindaur once worked as a reporter and for at least one member of Congress. After working as a reporter for U.S. News and World Reports, Lindaur worked for then U.S. Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

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