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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 21, 2006 Ecoterror hammer falls By BLAINE HARDEN The Washington Post After taking nine years to penetrate what they called a "vast ecoterrorism conspiracy" in Oregon and four other Western states, federal prosecutors announced Friday the indictments of two Rogue Valley residents and nine others for participating in a five-year spree of arson and sabotage claimed by the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front. The 17 attacks, between 1996 and 2001, caused no deaths, but resulted in an estimated $23 million in damage to lumber companies, a ski resort, meat plants, federal ranger stations and a high- voltage electricity tower. They also included the 1998 firebombing of the U.S. Forest Industries Inc. office in Medford and the January 2001 arson at the Superior Lumber Co. in Glendale. In Washington, the Justice Department on Friday called the indictments a breakthrough in what prosecutors said has been a long and difficult investigation of the animal-rights and environmental groups, which allegedly organize themselves in small, Maoist-style cells and which advocate "direct action" against those they believe abuse animals or the earth. "Today’s indictment proves that we will not tolerate any group that terrorizes the American people, no matter its intentions or objectives," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said. Advertisement Joining Gonzales, FBI Director Robert Mueller said, "Investigating and preventing animal rights and environmental extremism is one of the FBI’s highest domestic priorities." At the U.S. District Court in Medford Friday, defendant Suzanne Nicole "India" Savoie made a brief appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Cooney, who ordered her transferred to Eugene for a Tuesday hearing in federal court. A composed Savoie wore blue-green Jackson County Jail-issued clothing when she walked into the courtroom in handcuffs and leg irons. A 65-count federal indictment, unsealed Friday, accuses the 28-year-old Applegate woman of being a lookout with her then-boyfriend, Daniel Gerard McGowan, during the Superior Lumber arson. Savoie appeared in the same courtroom where, a day earlier, co-defendant Jonathan Mark Christopher Paul appeared in a similar brief hearing. Paul, a 39-year-old part-time wildland firefighter who lives in the Greensprings, faces arson and conspiracy charges for his alleged role in helping firebomb the Cavel West horse meatpacking plant in Redmond on July 21, 1997. The indictment also alleges that Savoie, Paul and the other nine defendants — who referred to each other as the "Family" and took oaths to protect each other’s identities — all conspired to damage an unidentified electricity tower. Dating back to 1987, there are 188 open investigations of crimes claimed by the ELF and ALF, according to Carl Truscott, director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He said 25 to 30 of those cases are being actively pursued — about half of them in the Pacific Northwest, California and Utah. In Oregon, where a federal grand jury handed up the indictments, U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut said that it took a long time for federal, state and local authorities to gain investigative traction in the arson cases. A key break occurred, she said, when informants were found. "Getting inside information was one of the critical components of being able to crack the case," she said. Investigators said that most of the 11 people indicted have lived in and around Eugene. Eight of them have been arrested — six in December in locations across the nation and two this week in the Rogue Valley. Three are still at large and believed to be outside the country. Immergut predicted that the indictments "will put a significant dent in the movement." This week, though, the ELF claimed another arson: A mansion under construction on an island in Puget Sound was destroyed by fire. The ELF has claimed responsibility for burning down a number of big houses being built in Washington state in the past two years, and no arrests have been made. In California in recent years, the ELF also has claimed responsibility for arson in housing developments and attacks on SUV sales lots. "Our law enforcement has a lousy record of catching these people," said Gary Perlstein, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Portland State University. "Unfortunately, I think the message you can take away from these indictments is that you can get away with these kind of crimes for a long time." The ALF was created in the mid-1970s in Britain as a radical outgrowth of the animal rights movement. The group became active in the United States in the late 1980s. Its Web site says that one of its primary goals is "to inflict economic damage to those who profit from the misery and exploitation of animals." The ELF emerged in Britain in the mid-1990s, and its organization and tactics are modeled after the ALF. Members of both organizations often work together, Perlstein said. "These people have the ability to hide and stay away from law enforcement in a way that traditional criminals are not able to do," Perlstein said. Among those arrested in connection with the 17 attacks are college students from Virginia and Arizona. An unindicted coconspirator in the case, William C. Rodgers, 40, who was arrested in December in Arizona on related arson charges, killed himself shortly after his arrest. "There is a clear difference between constitutionally protected advocacy ... and violent criminal activity," Mueller added. "It is one thing to write concerned letters or to hold peaceful demonstrations," Mueller said. "It is another thing entirely to construct and use improvised explosives to harass and intimidate victims by destroying property and to cause millions of dollars in losses by acts or threats of violence." Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman contributed to this report. 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. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Computer Security Discount Hotel Reservations Casinos Canada dvd-r Generic Viagra Myspace Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Student Loans Sudoku Online Advertisement s Advertisement