3 plead guilty in attempts at arson

Sacramento Bee ^ | 10/15/5 | Denny Walsh

[SmithL]

Three of four Placer County residents charged with crimes linked to an eco-terrorist group pleaded guilty Friday in Sacramento federal court to their roles in attempts to burn down buildings under construction.

Ryan Daniel Lewis, who pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted arson and one count of arson, is identified in court documents as a follower of the Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental movement that targets suburban development.

Sisters Eva Rose Holland and Lili Marie Holland, who both pleaded guilty to one count of attempted arson, admitted that Lewis had urged them to participate in planting incendiary devices at a housing development in Lincoln.

By agreeing to the three plea deals, Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Steven Lapham is obligated to recommend six years in prison for Lewis, 22, and three years and three months for Lili Holland, 21, and Eva Holland, 26. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 13.

The Newcastle residents admitted conspiring to plant firebombs and burn buildings at the Lincoln construction site, the first in a series of incidents in Placer and Amador counties from December 2004 to February 2005.

The sisters confessed to leaving a party at their home early Christmas morning and, at Lewis' invitation, traveling with him to the Twelve Bridges housing development in Lincoln. According to the plea agreements, Lewis planted homemade incendiary devices in two houses under construction.

Lili Holland admitted she assisted Lewis in placing the devices, which failed to detonate. Eva Holland admitted acting as a lookout.

Lewis admitted planting the devices in Lincoln, planting five similar devices Jan. 12 at an office building under construction in Auburn, and planting seven devices Feb. 7 in five apartment buildings in the final stages of construction in the Amador County town of Sutter Creek.

[SmithL]

Let them serve their sentences in Guantanamo with the other terrorists.

[calrighty]

"Earth Liberation Front, a radical environmental movement that targets suburban development."

I wasn't aware the earth needed liberating.