Updated: 6:33 PM, Friday, July 21, 2006
Expressing remorse for their crimes, two key defendants pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy and arson for their roles in a secretive cell of environmental radicals charged in a federal investigation of a five-year spree of attacks in five states.
A third defendant in the case also pleaded guilty Friday, becoming the sixth to enter plea deals requiring cooperation with the government in prosecuting seven others charged in the conspiracy.
The guilty pleas of Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff and Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, settle the cases of all of the major role players arrested in the alleged conspiracy. Four other defendants await trial. Three others, including one allegedly prolific arsonist, remain fugitives.
In a brief statement in court, Meyerhoff, 29, renounced his involvement with the Earth Liberation Front. In a plea deal for a sentence of 15 years and eight months, he pleaded guilty to 54 charges - including conspiracy and arson related to seven separate attacks.
He also will plead guilty to eight arson counts in a separate indictment for an attack at a Vail, Colo., ski resort in 1998 that caused $12 million in damage and focussed national attention on radical environmentalists.
Chelsea Dawn Gerlach, 29, who formerly lived with Meyerhoff, pleaded guilty to 18 charges including conspiracy and arson in three separate attacks. She also will plead guilty to eight arson charges stemming from her role in the Vail, Colo., attack.
In a statement to Aiken, Gerlach apologized and said it was not her intention to hurt or frighten anyone, although she realizes that is what happened.
The third defendant in court Friday, Suzanne Nicole Savoie, 29, pleaded guilty to 15 charges - including conspiracy and arson - in a deal for a sentence of five years and three months.
Read more on the story in Saturday's Register-Guard.
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