Yakima Herald Article on Pleas

http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/308231306618675

From AP: Three plead guilty in Oregon to ecoterrorism spree

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Three people pleaded guilty Thursday to charges they were part of an ecoterrorism cell calling itself "The Family" that firebombed a ranger station, lumber mills, wild horse corrals and two meat packing plants.

As part of the plea agreement, the three agreed to cooperate in the continuing investigation of 10 others who are scheduled to go on trial Oct. 31 in U.S. District Court in Eugene for a series of firebombings around the Northwest from 1996 to 2001, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"This is a substantial step in resolution of this case and successful prosecution of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front in these crimes," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Peifer from Eugene. The two shadowy groups claimed responsibility for the attacks at the time.

In pleading guilty, the three admitted they tried to intimidate and coerce federal agencies, private businesses and the public through sabotage and mass destruction, the Justice Department said in a statement.

U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene accepted guilty pleas from Kevin Tubbs, 37, of Springfield, Ore.; Kendall Tankersley, 29, of Flagstaff, Ariz., and Darren T. Thurston, 36, a Canadian lately living in Portland, Ore., on charges of criminal conspiracy and related arson counts.

They are scheduled for sentencing Dec. 14, after completion of the trial of the others. They face five to 20 years in prison on each arson count and five years on the conspiracy.

More defendants were expected to plead guilty Friday, the Justice Department said.

The investigation of the case went nowhere for years, with little evidence but melted five-gallon buckets that had been filled with diesel and set off with timers.

But after a taskforce was formed with 30 investigators taking a "Cold Case" approach, they were able to find an informant, who, with a hidden tape recorder, looked up old friends from the group and talked to them about the past crimes, according to court records and testimony.

Federal agents arrested six people last December. As time went on, the number of unnamed informants grew to four. The sweep of the arsons grew also, until January, when 11 people were indicted in a wide-ranging conspiracy that included the 1998 firebombing of a Vail, Colo., ski resort. Two others were indicted later.

Tubbs, who worked in an adult store in Springfield and was known by the nickname "Dog," pleaded guilty to firebombing of the U.S. Forest Service ranger station in Oakridge in 1996, a horse slaughterhouse in Redmond in 1997, the Bureau of Land Management wild horse corrals in Burns in 1997, offices of U.S. Forest Industries in Medford in 1998, a meat packing plant in Eugene in 1999, a police substation in Eugene in 2000, offices of Superior Lumber Co. in Glendale in 2001, and the Jefferson Poplar Farm in Clatskanie in 2001.

Tankersley, who was applying to medical school when she was arrested last December in Arizona, pleaded guilty to two attempts to set fire to the U.S. Forest Industries office in Medford. Authorities had accused her of being the lookout.

Thurston, an animal-rights activist from Canada who was living with another defendant, Chelsea Gerlach, in Portland when they were arrested, pleaded guilty to being part of the conspiracy, and acknowledged taking part in setting fire to BLM horse corrals in Susanville, Calif., in 2001. He will enter a guilty plea to that charge after being transferred out of Oregon, authorities said.