Justus A. Ireland
Here's our boy. 5 to 20 years hell, this whack should do 20 at hard labor.
Posted on 09/29/2004 4:37:39 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
A former employee with an extremist bent ignited the fire that destroyed part of Stock Building Supply in West Jordan in June, according to federal charges.
Prosecutors labeled Justus A. Ireland, 23, a "domestic terrorist" Tuesday, saying he started the blaze in the name of the Earth Liberation Front, a group of underground environmental extremists.
Ireland has confessed, according to prosecutors, resulting in an arson charge filed against him in U.S. District Court late Monday afternoon.
"A blight on our community has been extinguished," said Chip Burrus, FBI special agent in charge.
Federal officials had expected Ireland to plead guilty during a court appearance Tuesday, but Ireland's court-appointed attorney asked for a delay to review the case. Magistrate Samuel Alba set a detention hearing for Thursday.
U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner said his office would seek more serious charges against Ireland if he does not plead guilty by Friday.
Ireland allegedly used a flare to burn a pallet loaded with cardboard and wood on June 14. He then threw a flare into a delivery truck, prosecutors said.
The arson caused $1.5 million in damage, destroying a secondary building and some forklifts. Police found the acronym "ELF" spray-painted in green on the side of the building and a truck.
ELF supporters have committed other acts of vandalism in Utah, damaging scientific equipment at a southern Utah oil and gas exploration in 2001 and destroying construction equipment in West Jordan in 2002.
The FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force discovered the green spray paint came from Stock Building and that a cut fence appeared to have been damaged from the inside.
Ireland "clearly had a knowledge of the facility," Burrus said.
What complicated the case, according to Burrus, was a fax sent from a University of Utah-operated clinic to KSL Radio claiming responsibility. The fax, which indicated it was from the ELF, said the arson was in response to what it termed excessive pollutants released by Stock Building's forklifts. The fax also listed other potential targets, including Kennecott Copper, a Hummer dealership and another lumber company.
Investigators interviewed more than 100 people at the clinic, looking for connections between Ireland and an employee there.
Warner said Tuesday that Ireland had no tie to the clinic; he simply walked into the unattended lobby and sent the fax.
Warner said the spray paint, the fax and the fact that the ELF claimed responsibility on its official Web site ties Ireland to the loosely run group - though officials believe he worked alone.
"Mr. Ireland is very much a lone wolf," Warner said. "[He] is simply an arsonist. He likes to do what he did."
Warner says the other targets were just a ruse.
Ireland is being held on a probation violation stemming from a 1999 aggravated sexual abuse conviction in Arizona. He moved to Utah in March 2000 and is being supervised by the Utah Division of Adult Probation and Parole, said Jack Ford, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections. Ireland was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Sept. 8 on a parole violation and in connection with a counterfeiting investigation.
If convicted of the arson charge, Ireland could serve five to 20 years in federal prison.
mcanham@sltrib.com
The case against Ireland
l The crime: A fire that caused $1.5 million in damage to Stock Building Supply, 1333 W. 9000 South, on June 14.
l The suspect: Justus A. Ireland, 23, a former employee, believed to have thrown lighted flares onto a pile of wooden pallets and into a delivery truck.
l The alleged motive: Anger over the company's emissions of pollutants.
l The charge: Arson, a federal felony punishable by five to 20 years in prison.
Here's our boy. 5 to 20 years hell, this whack should do 20 at hard labor.
An Irish E.L.F.??? that's just wrong!!!
OK> He's angry about pollution, so he causes more pollution? :^o
Yep, that's the brilliant "logic" that these people follow. They remind me of the rich kids that get drunk and high every night and drive their $50,000 Land Rovers around the country protesting the awful oil industry and our society's run-away consumerism. For the things they protest, they're the worst offenders.
Nah. Douse him in kerosene and toss a lit flare his way.
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