[Ppnews] Four indicted in 2001 corral fire near Susanville

[Political Prisoner News]

Today: April 06, 2006 at 17:32:18 PDT

Four indicted in 2001 corral fire near Susanville

By SCOTT SONNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Four people were indicted on federal arson charges 
Thursday in the 2001 firebombing of a federal corral near Susanville, 
Calif., that housed wild horses and burros rounded up from public rangeland.
Three of the four suspects in the firebombing at the Bureau of Land 
Management facility about 80 miles northwest of Reno already have 
been indicted on federal charges mostly in Oregon in connection with 
a string of cases of alleged eco-terrorism across several Western states.

One of them, Canadian Darren Thurston, 36, remains in custody in 
Oregon. Two others previously indicted, Rebecca Rubin, 32, and Joseph 
Dibee, 38, are listed as fugitives, as is the fourth suspect named 
for the first time in Thursday's indictment, Justin Solondz, 26.

U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott and FBI Special Agent Drew Parenti 
announced the new three-count indictment on Thursday in Sacramento 
charging the four with conspiracy to commit arson, arson of a 
government building and use of a destructive device during and in 
relation to a crime of violence.

They said the charges were the product of an extensive investigation 
by the FBI and its Joint Terrorism Task Force.

"Those who would commit acts of terror, such as arson, in the name of 
the Earth Liberation Front, and the Animal Liberation Front should be 
on notice: federal law enforcement will do everything in its capacity 
to track you down and hold you accountable for your dangerous 
behavior," Scott said in a statement issued by his office in Sacramento.

"Today's indictments of these four eco-terrorists bring to 11 the 
total number of ELF or ELF-ALF related defendants charged in three 
separate cases brought by this office over the past year."

Dibee is among three suspects earlier charged with torching the Cavel 
West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, Ore., in July 1997. Rubin, also 
a fugitive, is among three suspects charged in an arson fire at U.S. 
Forest Industries in Medford, Ore., in December 1998.

Four firebombs had been rigged to ignite at the BLM's Litchfield 
corral along U.S. Highway 395 about 20 miles northeast of Susanville, 
Calif., but only one went off, destroying the hay-filled barn on Oct. 
16, 2001. A military bomb squad disarmed the others. No one was injured.

About two weeks after the firebombing, a spokesman for the Animal 
Liberation Front said that another group, the Earth Liberation Front, 
appeared to be taking credit for the attack as a form of protest 
against the federal roundup of wild horses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Steven Lapham, who is prosecuting the 
case, said Thursday that in addition to the bomb that went off a 
second device was located in the hay barn adjacent to the one that burned.

A third device was located on the front porch of the BLM office, and 
a fourth was under the car of a BLM horse wrangler.

"Although this incident occurred more than 4 years ago, the FBI and 
its JTTF partners continued to investigate these acts of extremism, 
and are pleased charges have been filed against those responsible," 
Parenti said Thursday.
If convicted, the penalties under federal law for conspiracy to 
commit arson and arson are 20 years maximum, a mandatory minimum of 
five years in prison, and a three-year term of supervised release.

The penalty for use of a destructive device during a crime of 
violence is 30 years to be served consecutively to the underlying 
crime, and a five-year term of supervised release.

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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