Earth First! Newswire Publishes Giant List of Informants

This is a new feature on the EF! Newswire to keep you abreast on the whereabouts and status of informants and ‘snitches’ who are cooperating with, or working for, the state in effort to monitor and/or repress ecological resistance movements, as well as other liberation struggles. Sadly, the names on this list are people who can never be trusted again to work in activist circles or resistance movements. The page is currently very centered on North American informants. We appreciate any assistance in broadening this to cover a more international scope.

This is by no means a complete list. Please get in touch with possible updates or corrections. We only post information on this page that can be verified to the greatest extent possible through public documents—in most cases, their plea agreements. We have aimed to present short summaries of the individuals below, so that they would be consolidated in a single location. There is very likely more information, including photos, to be found for each individual through online search engines and resources designed to gather personal information on people (some of which cost money). We hope that this page will serve as a useful starting point for those seeking to take their research further. Posted 9/5/11

Currently walking free

*Justin Clayton Samuel (DOB: Dec. 31, 1978) from Snohomish, WA. Cooperated with government by testifying against Peter Young. Both were charged with cutting fences and liberating mink from a series of fur
farms in October 1997. Samuel was an electrical engineering student at the
University of Washington in Seattle before dropping out in 1997. Samuel
was sentenced to two years in federal prison plus a year supervised
release and ordered to pay $364,106 in restitution in exchange for his
cooperation.

He was released on 11-28-2001, and has gone into the computer security field, working for Firefox as of 2010. He is currently a PhD student at UC Berkeley.

Height: 6’ 0″. Weight: ~165 lbs. Place of birth: California. Hair: brown.
Eyes: hazel. Race: white.

His school department profile:
www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~jsamuel
And twitter:
twitter.com/#!/jstnsml
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*Angela “Angie” Marie Cesario (DOB ~1979): took a cooperating plea deal, pointing the finger at Tre Arrow to reduce her sentence. This was a departure from earlier testimonies, when both Cesario and Rosenbloom did not name Arrow as the instigator, but Jake Sherman. All three named Arrow in exchange for sentences of 41 months. She was released on 12-22-2006.
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*Jeremy David Rosenbloom (DOB ~1977): took a cooperating plea deal, pointing the finger at Tre Arrow to reduce the sentence. This was a departure from earlier testimonies, when both Cesario and Rosenbloom did not name Arrow as the instigator, but Jake Sherman. All three named Arrow in exchange for sentences of 41 months. He was released on 12-22-2006.
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*Jacob “Jake” David Bardwell Sherman (DOB ~1982) of Portland, OR: convicted of arson of logging trucks and a front-end loader near Eagle Creek in 2001. Sherman “immediately began to cooperate” with investigators after his arrest, according to court documents. Sherman was boastful and told several girlfriends (two of whom also provided information to the government), in detail, his version of the events that took place that night. Sherman had also not been an especially careful saboteur. His mother’s vehicle smelled of gasoline and he dumped his clothes in the trash bin when he returned that night at 2:00 am, asking his brother to tell his parents that he had returned home at 10:30 pm. Sherman’s father, contacted the FBI telling them he believed his son
was involved in the arson. During FBI questioning, Sherman pegged Arrow as the ringleader in exchange for a sentence of 41 months.
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*Darren Todd Thurston (DOB: ~1970), aka “Goat,” of Canada, took a cooperating plea agreement, charged with conspiracy to commit arson and destruction of an energy facility east of Bend, OR in 1999. Thurston was given a sentence of 37 months in prison
after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson in the 2001 fire at the Litchfield, Calif., U.S. Bureau of Land Management wild horse corrals. He was released on 8-14-2008. As of summer 2010, he was running his own computer security firm (http://www.hard-mac.com/blog/) out of Canada. He goes by “rad_boy” and “hard_mac”.
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*Zachary Jensen (DOB: ~1986) of Monroe, WA, Zach Jenson was arrested on January 13, 2006, along with Eric McDavid and Lauren Weiner. He was charged with a single count of conspiracy to destroy by arson or explosives public and private property. His arrest was the direct result of a paid FBI informant, known as “Anna,” who spent over a year and half befriending and entrapping the trio. Zach plead guilty to a lesser charge on July 18, 2006 and was released on bail later that month. The terms of his plea agreement required full cooperation with the government against Eric McDavid at trial, as well as in any and all other investigations in which the government deemed him useful. Zach received time served (which amounted to about 6 months) at his sentencing on December 4, 2008. His supervised release is set to expire in December 2011.

Zach has a medium build, with brown hair and brown eyes. He stands at about 5’5’’. His last known place of residence was Seattle, Washington. He fancies himself a writer and claimed to have been working on a book about his experiences (and warning others against following a similar path) during the time of his sentencing hearing. He has also claimed an interest in Buddhism, yoga and other “spiritual” pursuits. He is normally withdrawn and quiet and eager to please whatever company he might be keeping.
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*Lauren Weiner (DOB: ~1986) of Pound Ridge, NY, was arrested on January 13, 2006, along with Eric McDavid and Zachary Jenson. She was charged with a single count of conspiracy to destroy by arson or explosives public and private property. Her arrest was the direct result of a paid FBI informant, known as “Anna,” who spent over a year and half befriending and entrapping the trio. Lauren was released on bond in early February 2006 and later plead guilty to a lesser charge on May 30, 2006. However, there is evidence that Lauren was cooperating with the government months before the plea agreement was signed. The terms of her plea agreement required full cooperation with the government against Eric McDavid at trial, as well as in any and all other investigations in which the government deemed her useful. Lauren received time served (which amounted to about 3 weeks) at her sentencing on December 11, 2008. Her supervised release is set to expire in December 2011.

Lauren has a heavy build, with brown hair and brown eyes. She stands at
about 5’1’’. Her last known place of residence was Pound Ridge, New York
(Westchester County). Lauren attended art school and is quite skilled in
pottery and various other art forms. She is outspoken and often lies or
engages in hyperbolic speech to impress those around her. Stories have
surfaced about her attempting to attend fundraisers for Green Scare
defendants after her release on bond.
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*Lacey Phillabaum (DOB: ~1975) from Spokane, WA: Phillabaum took a cooperating agreement, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, arson, and use of a destructive device at the University of Washington’s Center for Urban Horticulture in 2001. The university spent $7.2 million to rebuild the center. She is very intelligent, calculated and manipulative. Phillabaum is a former Earth First! Journal editor, known for her role as the narrator of the underground documentary film Breaking the Spell, which advocates property damage and examines the 1999 Seattle WTO riots from the perspective of anarchists in Eugene, OR. In 2005 she moved to Charlottesville, VA, to take reporting position at C-Ville Weekly. She turned herself in to federal agents sometime around early 2006. In 2008, Phillabaum was sentenced to three years in federal prison and three years’ probation.

She was released on 4-21-2010 and is currently out after transitioning via a halfway house in Spokane, WA. She is thought to be living at her parents’ house in Pheonix, AZ and reportedly seeking work as a para-legal.
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*Sarah “Kendall” Harvey Tankersley (DOB: ~1977), originally from Ohio, the daughter of two attorneys, was arrested while living in Flagstaff, AZ; Charged with arson and attempted arson of U.S. Forest Industries in Medford. Kendall received a 3-year, 10-month sentence. Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Tankersley to five months less than she agreed to when she pleaded guilty to arson at the U.S. Forest Industry’s office in Medford in 1998 because she cooperated with the state and left the conspiracy immediately after the arson. Tankersley, then 28 and preparing for medical school, pled guilty in 2006 to charges including conspiracy to commit arson from 1996 through 2001. Left Eugene around 1999, attended Humboldt State and graduated with molecular biology degree in 2004.

She was released on 9-17-2010.
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*Suzanne Nicole Savoie (DOB: ~1977), aka “India,” of Applegate, OR: charged with arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR. She was sentenced to more than 51 months in prison for her role in two arsons. She turned self in to FBI agents in mid-January 2006. Savoie made statements against Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher and was given a sentence only 8 months less than expected because of her cooperation with investigators. She has been in a Seattle halfway house with a projected release date of 3-24-2011. [UPDATES NEEDED]

Currently serving time:

*Jennifer Lynn Kolar (DOB: ~1973), aka “Diver” originally of Spokane and
later Seattle, WA, took a cooperating agreement pleading guilty to charges in connection with the firebombing at the University of Washington. Kolar has worked for a variety of animal rights and environmental causes throughout the years, including an effort
to prevent the reestablishment of native whaling practices in Washington State. She was often the ‘computer security expert’ for the groups she worked with. For the past six years she has spent much of her time sailing and racing a yacht, Manta Ray, an Olson 911 SE sail number 45, she co-owns. She is a chair of the Corinthian Yacht Club (CYC) of Seattle Large Boat Racing Fleet. She pursued doctorate degree at the University of Colorado, but turned self in to federal agents in Washington sometime around early 2006. She is currently held in USP Hazelton and scheduled to be released on 2-02-2013.
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*Chelsea Dawn Gerlach (DOB: 1977) of Sweet Home, and later Eugene, OR:
charged with arson at Childers Meat Co. in Eugene; arson at a Boise
Cascade office in Monmouth, OR; toppling of a Bonneville Power
Administration tower; arson at the Eugene Police Department West
University Public Safety Station; attempted arson at Jefferson Poplar
Farms in Clatskanie. Gerlach pleaded guilty to conspiracy and arson
charges in a string of 20 fires that did $40 million worth of damage in
five states, including a 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort in Colorado.
After the group disbanded in 2001, Gerlach went underground and became a
DJ in Portland, OR. At the time of her arrest, she was selling drugs in
Portland with her boyfriend Darren Todd Thurston. Thus far, drug charges
are not pending with either Gerlach or Thurston. Gerlach was extremely
helpful to the prosecution, although she defends herself against being
villified as a snitch and says she cooperated both to shorten her sentence
and ‘for the movement.’ Gerlach made statements against Nathan Block and Joyanna Zacher. She convinced Thurston to turn informant, unsuccessfully attempting to get Zacher, Block and McGowan to turn as well. She led the prosecution on several field trips to previous arsons and a buried cache of guns, ammunition and fake passports allegedly belonging to William “Avalon” Rodgers. She was sentenced to nine years in prison, is currently held in Tallahassee FCI and is scheduled to be released on 10-10-2013.

Chelsea’s parents are environmentalists and she became active around age
15. She attended Evergreen University for a year. She identifies herself
as good with words and computers in an interview she did from prison with
Outside Magazine in 2007. She developed an interest in Buddhism while
incarcerated.
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*Stanislas “Stan” Gregory Meyerhoff (DOB: ~1977) of Charlottesville, VA.:
also went by “Jack.” Meyerhoff was the first of the group called “The Family” to be sentenced, and the first
to snitch once arrested. Charged with May 1999 arson at Childers Meat Co. in
Eugene; 1999 arson at Boise Cascade office in Monmouth, OR; toppling of a
Bonneville Power Administration tower; arson at the Eugene Police
Department West University Public Safety Station; arson at Superior Lumber
Co., in Glendale, OR; arson of sport utility vehicles at a Eugene car
dealership; arson of Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie. He admitted guilt in his first hearing in front
of an arraignment judge. Meyerhoff eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy
and arson charges in a string of 20 fires that did $40 million worth of
damage in five states, including a 1998 fire at the Vail ski resort in
Colorado. After the group disbanded in 2001, Meyerhoff enrolled in college
in Virginia, where he studied engineering. Meyerhoff, who admitted to
fashioning the devices to start the fires, was sentenced to 13 years in
prison. He is currently held at USP Terre Haute and is scheduled to be
released on 7-08-2015.
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Frank Brian Ambrose (DOB: ~1975): Ambrose pleaded guilty to conspiring to
set a fire and explosion that caused more than $1 million in damage to the
offices of Michigan State University’s Agriculture Biotechnology Support
Project on New Year’s Eve 1999. Ambrose became a paid FBI informant after
his arrest (for disposing of evidence of actions in a dumpster that were
found and law enforcement notified). Ambrose has provided information on
“15” other people allegedly involved in ELF/ALF actions, including ex-wife
Marie Mason. Court documents reveal that Ambrose was being used by the FBI
not only to gather information on ELF/ALF activities but general movement
organizing as well (specifically organizing against I-69 and Cincinnati
Earth First! organizing). He “traveled outside of Michigan seven times at
the FBI’s direction, often working extremely late hours; he made repeated
trips from Detroit to Grand Rapids; he made 178 consensual recordings of
telephone conversations and in-person meetings with investigative targets;
and he participated in lengthy interviews with the FBI’s Behavioral
Analysis Unit and otherwise assisted the FBI’s efforts to improve its
intelligence-gathering protocols related to, and its understanding of,
underground environmental and animal-rights extremist groups and
movements.”

In sum, his cooperation with investigators after his arrest
has been substantial and rather extraordinary. He was sentenced to 9 years
in prison in 2008. He also received a lifetime of supervisory release
after prison and was ordered to pay $3.7 million in restitution to the
University and for other sabotaged sites. He is currently being held at
Rochester FMC and has a projected release date of 9-26-2016.

Ambrose, moved to Bloomington after graduating from Purdue University with
a degree in biology. At Purdue, the 190-pound six-footer was a varsity
swimmer.

There is speculation of an additional informant in Ambrose’s case (listed as another confidential source in official documents.) Confirmation and details on the identity of this person are currently pending.

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*Kevin Tubbs (DOB: ~1969), originally from Nebraska, but had been living
in Springfield, OR. Tubbs cooperated three weeks after his
arrest and that his cooperation was substantial, after he learned of three
snitches against him: Ferguson, Meyerhoff and Kolar-in that order. Tubbs’
testimony was sufficient enough to get Jonathan Paul indicted. Tubbs was an animal rights activist charged with arson of Oakridge
Ranger Station; arson of Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, OR,
on July 21, 1997; attempted arson at U.S. Forest Industries in Medford,
OR, in December 1998; arson at Childers Meat Co., in Eugene; Sept. 6,
2000, arson at the Eugene Police Department West University Public Safety
Station; Jan. 2, 2001, arson at Superior Lumber Co., in Glendale, OR;
using a destructive device to set fire to sport utility vehicles at a
Eugene, OR, car dealership in March 2001; arson at Jefferson Poplar Farms
in Clatskanie, OR, in May 2001. In 2007, he
was sentenced to nearly 12 years and 7 months in prison with 3 years
supervised release. Tubbs is currently held in USP Lompoc and has a
projected release date of 11-23-2016.

Tubbs attended Humboldt State University and was once editor of the Earth
First! Journal. Despite his status as an informant, he still has an active support page at: www.supportkevintubbs.com

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*Jacob “Jake” Todd Ferguson: After a roommate assumed he had stolen her
truck after an argument, reported it stolen and filed a restraining order
against him he was on the police radar. Using heroin by 2003, feds
contacted Ferguson and told him that people within the community had
linked him to the Romania fire and other arsons. And that, ostensibly, is
when Ferguson agreed to cooperate. Court records indicate that by spring
2004, Ferguson was wearing a hidden recording device in an effort to bait
others, into incriminating themselves. He admitted in 2007 that he set
fire to the U.S. Forest Service Ranger Station in Detroit, OR and a
government pickup in 1996. He admitted to being granted immunity plus
$50,000 for his cooperation, and received 5 years probation. Ferguson,
searched out others and had them recount experiences while he was wearing
a recording device. The recordings provided investigators the evidence
that they needed to convict Daniel McGowan, Jonathan Paul, Joyanna Zacher
and Nathan Block (who all received sentences of 5-7 years). Ferguson wore
the hidden recorder to an annual Earth First! gathering, to the Public
Interest Environmental Law Conference at the UO, and to meetings with six
of his partners in crime, by then scattered across the country.

He was never indicted for the over 15 acts of sabotage he admitted to and
was residing in Eugene, OR until being incarcerated for violating probation. He may also have been financially compensated for his cooperation. He is recognizable by a pentagram tattoo on his forehead.

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*Ian Wallace: Formerly of the Twin Cities and recently attending college at Stony Brook (NY), was sentenced to three years in prison, beginning June 1, 2009, for his role in placing two failed firebombs at US Forest Service buildings where tree research was being conducted on the campus of Michigan Tech University in 2001. Walllace and another traveled from Minneapolis to upper Michigan for the action, according to the cooperating plea agreement he signed on September 5, 2008. He faced a maximum of 10 years in prison.

In the plea agreement, Wallace also admitted involvement in three other acts. Two were in Saint Paul: sabotage of a building and vehicles at a US Forest Service research station in 2000 (loss $25,186), and arson of the construction site of what is today the Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics on the University of Minnesota campus (loss $630,000). He also admitted to involvement and named three other activists responsible for the destruction of 500 research trees in Rhinelander, Wisconsin: Bryan Lefey (who took a non-cooperating agreement) and was sentenced to 3 years in prison for the Rhinelander action, Katherine Christianson (who took a cooperating agreement) was sentenced to 2 years, and Daniel McGowan, serving a 7 year sentence currently. Aaron Ellringer, who drove the activists to the Rhinelander site, cooperated with the government and was sentenced to four days in jail. Please contact us with any further information on Christianson or Ellringer. Source

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*Brianna Waters: former non-cooperating ELF prisoner, decided to take a cooperating plea deal in the prosecution of two 2001 ELF acts of arson. She had been released earlier this year after a mistrial and is expected to testify against former boyfriend Justin Solondz, who was captured as a fugitive in China, is now in US custody and as of July 29 is awaiting trial for his alleged ELF activity.

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International informants:

[this section is awaiting further information]

Mark Kennedy and Mark Jacobs are both UK-based international informants.