Feds still probing attacks by Earth Liberation Front
BY LISA THOMPSON
lisa.thompson@timesnews.com [more details]
BY ED PALATTELLA
ed.palattella@timesnews.com
Published: September 09. 2008 12:40AM
Today, he is scheduled to take a seat before a different kind of Erie audience -- a federal grand jury.
The 28-year-old former Pennsylvania resident said he has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury that is investigating a series of arsons and other politically motivated acts of sabotage and vandalism in the Erie area in 2002 and 2003.
The Earth Liberation Front, or E.L.F., and the Animal Liberation Front, or ALF, variously took responsibility for the local actions, which occurred amid a nationwide wave of crimes committed in the name of environmental and animal liberation.
The government wants to know if Tucker, who now lives in Athens, Ga., has information about incidents in northwestern Pennsylvania.
The actions, six in all, caused an estimated $1.5 million damage, the FBI said. They include a costly arson at a U.S. Forest Service research station in Warren County, the release of animals from local fur farms in Erie County and the torching of a $500,000 construction crane at Wintergreen Gorge.
Tucker said he knows nothing about the incidents under investigation and is not a target of the probe. He said his role in the green anarchy movement is as a writer and speaker.
"It would be extremely stupid to be a public figure and try to have nighttime activities," he said in an interview with the Erie Times-News. "I think they know I don't have any information. I think this is harassment."
Tucker said he plans to appear today as summoned. He declined to comment on how he will respond when questioned.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, though witnesses are allowed to discuss their testimony publicly. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini, the chief federal prosecutor in Erie, and Andrew Wilson, head of the Erie FBI office, declined to comment on Tucker's subpoena or confirm that a grand jury is in session.
Wilson said only that the crimes that occurred remain "under active investigation."
Top priority
| WHAT IS DOMESTIC TERRORISM? |
| "Domestic terrorism involves acts of violence that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any state, committed by individuals or groups without any foreign direction, and appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, or influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States." SOURCE: John E. Lewis, Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, speaking before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2004 |
"We saw as many or more direct actions than any other part of the country at that time," Wilson said of the E.L.F. and ALF actions in the Erie region in 2002 and 2003.
Tucker's appearance before the grand jury comes more than six years after the first E.L.F. action in the Erie region. But the FBI still has time to investigate and prosecute. Allegations of conspiracy or arson have allowed prosecutors in other eco-terrorist cases nationwide to extend the statute of limitations beyond the typical five years.
While the investigation continues, those targeted by activists await their own reckoning.
In the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2003, arsonists torched two pickups and two sport utility vehicles at Bob Ferrando's car dealership in Girard. Ferrando said he had not heard from investigators since shortly after the January 2003 fire. He said the incident left him unsettled at the time.
"You don't know what is going to happen next," he said.
Forrest Mindek and his brothers operate a Harborcreek Township mink farm that was targeted. He did not respond to a request for comment from the Erie Times-News.
In 2002, Mindek told the Fur Commission, a California-based trade group: "Whoever committed this cowardly crime must be punished to the full extent of the law. It's bad enough that they try to destroy our livelihood, but they put the lives of our animals, our family and the firefighters at risk."
Lasting legacy
| LOCAL ACTION OF THE E.L.F. AND ALF IN 2002-03 |
| Members of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for a series of actions in northwestern Pennsylvania in 2002 and 2003: SOURCES: FBI; communiqués from E.LF. and ALF. |
No one was injured in the local attacks, but the fire at the Warren County research station stood out in the arsonists' expressed willingness to employ violence against people.
"Where it is necessary," according to a statement that E.L.F. released at the time, "we will no longer hesitate to pick up the gun to implement justice, and provide needed protection for our planet."
A person speaking for E.L.F. later dismissed the remarks as representing only one E.L.F. cell. The comments still alarmed law enforcement because they appeared to clear the way for a new threshold of violence.
In response to the outbreak of eco-sabotage, the FBI, the Erie County District Attorney's Office and Corry, Erie and Millcreek Township police departments formed a joint terrorism task force in 2004 to target terrorism, especially the E.L.F. and ALF actions.
The group's formation followed the creation of similar task forces in all major U.S. cities in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Despite investigators' efforts, no one has been arrested in the local cases. The FBI continues to offer a reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible, Wilson said.
Nationwide, the FBI has made a number of eco-terrorism arrests in Western states, but many cases remain unsolved. One difficulty is the loose, secret ties that make up E.L.F. and ALF. Their methods have been described as built around an idea, rather than an organization. Their crimes resist traditional investigative tactics.
"It is not the standard leadership or hierarchy that a criminal enterprise uses," Wilson said.
There is no membership roster or organized structure for investigators to infiltrate. Instead, like-minded activists come together in highly secretive cells, or affinity groups, plot actions and commit them in the name of E.L.F. or ALF. The actions are then announced through anonymous press releases or "communiqués." After each action in the Erie area, releases were faxed to news organizations explaining the rationales for the crimes.
Tucker: Movement targeted, not him
He and green anarchists John Zerzan, of Eugene, Ore., and Derrick Jensen, of California, spoke on the themes of "Revolution, Sustainability and the Eradication of Domination" in a lecture at Mercyhurst College in April 2006.
Tucker also appeared in Erie at the Erie Art Museum Annex in January 2004 with other high-profile radicals at the Total Liberation Fest, an event described as a "revolution conference on state repression, political prisoners, social justice, and earth and animal liberation."
Tucker said his subpoena is not the first time the FBI has carried its investigation into the inner workings of those in the environmental movement.
He said others in the Erie area have been contacted by the FBI in the past.
An anonymous Internet blog posting in October 2005 reported that activists and organizers from throughout western Pennsylvania had been subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury in connection with the E.L.F. and ALF actions.
In an interview, Tucker's colleague, Zerzan, 65, a green anarchist author and radio show host, said Tucker has always been careful to tell others that he does not want to know about any E.L.F. or ALF direct actions.
Zerzan said he believes Tucker has been called to testify because of his strong leadership in the green anarchy movement.
Tucker agreed.
"I wasn't surprised by any of this," he said. "In a way, it is kind of an occupational hazard."
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