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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 19, 2006 Jonathan Mark Christopher Paul Ashland man arrested for ecosabotage By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune An Ashland area man faces 20 years in federal prison after an FBI investigation determined he aided in the 1997 firebombing of a horse meatpacking plant in Redmond. Jonathan Mark Christopher Paul, 39, of the 2000 block of Soda Mountain Road, was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents on charges of arson in connection with the July 21, 1997, nighttime fire at the Cavel West plant. The FBI connected Paul to the fire during an investigation into what the FBI describes as domestic terrorism involving arson — also known as ecosabotage — by members of the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. Paul is being held without bail in the Jackson County Jail and is expected to be arraigned today before U.S. Magistrate John P. Cooney in Medford. He will then be transferred to Eugene to be tried in the federal court there, local court officials said. If convicted, Paul could be sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $250,000. Advertisement Paul’s attorney, Stuart Sugarman of Portland, declined to comment on the case. The 1997 fire destroyed the 25,000-square-foot meatpacking plant, causing some $1 million in damage, officials reported at the time. Roughly 100 horses in nearby corrals survived. ALF claimed responsibility for the arson. The plant was owned by a Belgian firm which employed 22 people to supply horsemeat to Europe. The plant is no longer in operation. In a search warrant affidavit filed Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Thomas M. Coffin in Eugene, FBI special agent Paul E. Caldwell Jr. stated that evidence provided by a confidential source indicated Paul and others did a "dry-run" of their plan a week before the arson. The source later identified Paul in a photograph, the affidavit said. The source told another FBI agent that Paul prepared the gasoline/diesel fuel used in the arson by adding ground-up soap to thicken it, thereby slowing the burning process, according to Caldwell. Moreover, the source said that on the night of the arson, Paul and an unknown female carried five-gallon buckets of fuel by hand along with one-gallon jugs of fuel in backpacks, the affidavit said. Paul and the woman set up an incendiary device at the plant office, which was under construction, the affidavit said. The source said an incendiary device at another location at the packing plant prematurely ignited. Fuel splashed on the timing device caused the premature ignition, the source surmised. A second confidential source who admitted being involved in the arson told the FBI that Paul directed the source to cut soap into small pieces, which Paul then added to the fuel at his Southern Oregon residence, the affidavit said. The affidavit concluded that Paul and the second confidential source drove with the fuel mixture to Redmond, where they served as look-outs while others put the incendiary devices in place. One of the flammable devices ignited unexpectedly into a fireball, the source said. Paul had been issued a subpoena by FBI agents on Dec. 8 to appear before a Eugene grand jury on March 16, according to the Web site fbiwitchhunt.com. An article purportedly written by Paul’s wife, Tammy, posted on the Web site stated that Paul had been subpoenaed to a Spokane grand jury in the early 1990s. He appeared, refused to testify and spent six months in jail, the article said. "He is not unfamiliar with the process and is prepared to fight the system again," the article said. Paul has appeared in Mail Tribune news stories about environmental issues, including a Sept. 4, 2002, article in which he was one of a group of firefighters concerned that wildfires devastating Southern Oregon that year would be used by the Bush administration as an excuse to cut large trees in the name of catastrophic wildfire prevention. At the time, Paul was a volunteer lieutenant with Williams Fire and Rescue and a wildlands contract firefighter. "Commercial logging leaves a lot of slash, and you get a lot of brush growth afterwards," he told the Mail Tribune. "That makes fires burn hotter, faster and more dangerous." He was also listed in an Aug. 15, 1996, article in which he was identified during a peaceful protest as a spokesman for a group known as the Siskiyou Forest Defenders. The group had continually stressed that it did not condone violence. Applegate woman allegedly linked to ’01 arson Staff and wire reports Authorities say they are looking for an Applegate Valley woman suspected of serving as a lookout during an arson fire at Superior Lumber Co. in Glendale five years ago. Suzanne Nicole "India" Savoie, 28, of Applegate, is wanted in connection with the Jan. 2, 2001, fire, Diane Peterson, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Portland, told The Associated Press. The fire destroyed the 6,000-square-foot Superior headquarters and caused some $400,000 damage. The fire occurred at night when no one was working. Superior is now known as Swanson Group. In a Dec. 2 affidavit for search warrants, the FBI stated that Savoie was among five people who drove to Glendale the night of the fire. She served as a lookout with Daniel McGowan of New York City, who already has been arrested on arson in the case, the affidavit said. Savoie was identified as McGowan’s girlfriend. Savoie, who remains at large, faces 20 years and a $250,000 fine if convicted. The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the arson. The two new suspects bring to nine the number of people federal agents have charged in a series of arsons from 1996 to 2001 in the Northwest. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at Ashland man arrested for ecosabotage ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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