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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 27, 2006 Ecoterror suspects granted bail Staff and wire reports Two Rogue Valley residents charged with arson in the Earth Liberation Front ecoterrorism case could be out of jail and home today after a federal judge in Eugene granted them bail. Jonathan Christopher Mark Paul, 39, of the Greensprings, was released Thursday night from the Lane County Jail after agreeing in federal court to post funds from a Charles Schwab account as part of the bail agreement, federal court papers show. The records do not list the bail amounts that U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Coffin ordered Thursday for Paul and co- defendant Suzanne Savoie, 28, of the Applegate. Luke Ruediger, Savoie’s boyfriend, said late Thursday that Savoie "is not out yet" from the Lane County Jail but that he expected her release. "That’s all I have to say," Ruediger said. Advertisement Jail records also did not list Paul’s or Savoie’s bail, a jail spokeswoman said. Paul and Savoie are two of 11 alleged ecosaboteurs charged with arson and conspiracy for a string of firebombings claimed by the ELF and Animal Liberation Front. The arsons caused an estimated $22 million in arsons ranging from Southern Oregon to Vail, Colo. A 65-count federal indictment accuses Savoie of being a lookout with her then-boyfriend, Daniel Gerard McGowan, during the Jan. 2, 2001, arson at the Superior Lumber Co. in Glendale. Paul, a part-time wildland firefighter, faces arson and conspiracy charges for his alleged role in helping firebomb the Cavel West horsemeat packing plant in Redmond on July 21, 1997. The indictment also alleges that Savoie, Paul and the other nine defendants — who referred to themselves as the "Family" and took oaths to protect each other’s identities — all conspired to damage an unidentified electricity tower. In arguments Wednesday against granting bail for Savoie, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall said co-conspirators say Savoie attended meetings of secret "cells" that took great strides to conceal their meetings and paths to them. Engdall also told the judge that cell members used code books and encryption software to decipher e-mails sent among them. Dating back to 1987, there are 188 open investigations of crimes claimed by the ELF and ALF, federal officials have said. All 11 defendants are set to be tried together beginning on Halloween by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken, court records show. The five-week trial, however, could be delayed to give both sides more time to prepare. Coffin’s ruling came a day after Aiken ordered a $1.6 million bail for McGowan, 31, of New York City. In Wednesday’s hearing, Engdall asked Aiken to keep McGowan locked up as a flight risk and a threat to the community. Engdall said McGowan was active in more than one secretive sub-cell of radical environmentalists who focused on disrupting biotechnology research. McGowan faces charges of arson, conspiracy and using a firebomb in connection with the fires set at Superior Lumber Co. and Jefferson Poplar Farm in Clatskanie, also in 2001. McGowan remained late Thursday in the Lane County Jail, a jail spokeswoman said. Four other co-conspirators have helped the government identify McGowan as a suspect, and Engdall said recorded conversations between McGowan and an informant revealed that McGowan threatened to encourage retaliation against a judge who sentenced activist Jeffrey "Free" Luers to more than 22 years in prison for torching vehicles at a Eugene dealership in 2000. Defense lawyer Jeffery Robinson of Seattle argued that informants are unreliable because they are trying to cut deals for themselves. He said McGowan never acted on his recorded threat against the judge in Luers’ case, proving that the recording caught the exaggerated boasts of young men and was not a true sign of menace. Robinson said McGowan knows his sister’s family will lose everything if he fails to return for trial, which may be delayed for a year or more. "He is convinced he will get a fair trial. He has motive to come back here and clear his name," Robinson said. "Mr. McGowan will not bankrupt his family, the people who love and support him the most." Aiken ordered a list of restrictions on McGowan, including that he live with his sister, follow a curfew and a tight schedule of work and school, wear an electronic monitoring device and report regularly to federal officials. "You give me any cause — any cause — and we will move you so quickly to jail that you won’t know what hit you," Aiken warned McGowan. 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