Posted on 11/07/2005 9:05:05 AM PST by LibertyRocks
Two former OU students accused of breaking into OU’s underground tunnel network are members of a local activist group that claims it has been harassed by the FBI.
Group members said they were questioned by FBI agents about Joel Henry Hinrichs III and the books they own.
Christopher Boyce, 24, and James Kent Eldridge, 21, who are both charged with second-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit second-degree burglary, belonged to the Greenbriar Collective, a group that practices organic gardening and operates a lending library out of a house in east Norman.
According to the Cleveland County District Attorney’s office, Boyce and Eldridge broke into the Richards Hall zoology building in the early hours of Oct. 20 via an underground tunnel and entered a room marked “biohazard.” A sealed glass vial was confiscated from one of the suspects after they were apprehended by police.
Members of the Greenbriar Collective said the group was not involved with the break-in.
“We don’t know why they did it,” Jacki Sellens, former OU student and Greenbriar member, said. “We only know that we know that they would never do anything to hurt anyone.”
The group has been visited by the FBI twice in the past two months, the member said.
The first visit, which took place on Sept. 21, upset Greenbriar members, who said they have done nothing illegal.
Members of the Greenbriar Collective said they are a peaceful group focused on helping people. The group hosts weekly vegetarian potlucks, and two members of the group traveled to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to help feed displaced storm survivors, said Mike Risley, OU alumnus and Greenbriar member.
The group is also fixing discarded computers to donate to charity, Risley said.
Norman resident John Rushton, who lives at the Greenbriar house at 823 N. Findlay Ave., said two clean-cut men in business casual attire arrived at the house in an unmarked car at about 10 a.m. Sept. 21. The men identified themselves as FBI agents and seemed to have information about the residents of the house and other members of the Greenbriar group, Rushton said.
“They said ‘You’re John Rushton,’” Rushton said. “‘What do you know about Ruckus Society?’ they asked me.”
Ruckus Society is an activist group that provides civil disobedience training for environmental, human rights and social justice organizations, according to the Ruckus Society’s Web site. Rushton had previously hosted Ruckus Society workshops at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Rushton said.
The men also knew the names of other members of the Greenbriar Collective, and they wanted to know what kind of books the group had in the house, Rushton said.
“They wanted to know if we had a copy of ‘The Anarchist’s Cookbook,’ which we don’t,” Rushton said.
“The Anarchist’s Cookbook” details how to make homemade explosives such as pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails.
Rushton said he refused to let the men inside the house.
“They said ‘If something happens in Norman, President George W. Bush will call and say ‘Get me John Rushton,’” Rushton said.
Less than two weeks later, on Oct. 1, OU student Joel Henry Hinrichs III killed himself with a homemade explosive device while sitting on a bench outside George Lynn Cross Hall during the OU-Kansas State football game.
The FBI didn’t visit the house directly after the incident, Rushton said. The Greenbriar Collective did not associate with Hinrichs, members said.
FBI Special Agent Martin Maag said he could not comment on the Hinrichs investigation. The Greenbriar Collective has not been targeted for investigation, he said. Maag said he was not aware of the Sept. 21 FBI visit to the Greenbriar house, although he said other FBI agents or officers from another law enforcement agency may have questioned the group.
“As far as I know, we are not interested in that group for anything,” Maag said.
Maag was present the second time the group was questioned, on or around Oct. 21, he said. Shortly after Boyce and Eldridge were arrested on a complaint of burglary, two FBI agents visited the Greenbriar house after the bureau received a phone tip that “someone was moving boxes out of the house,” Maag said.
Isaiah McCaslin, linguistics sophomore and Greenbriar Collective member, said he was sitting on the porch of the Greenbriar house when he was approached by two FBI agents who asked him if he had seen Hinrichs moving boxes out of the house.
“I didn’t really answer any of their questions because I was too busy making fun of them for asking if a dead guy was moving boxes around the house,” McCaslin said. “I went inside, and they said really creepily, ‘We’ll be back.’”
Maag said the group was questioned as part of a routine canvassing of the neighborhood after the FBI received an anonymous tip.
“I actually thought it was strange that they wouldn’t talk to me,” Maag said. “We are required to follow up on any leads we get.”
No information related to any ongoing investigations was obtained because of the anonymous phone tip, Maag said.
“We’re fairly sure [the FBI] will be back,” said Maka Laughingwolf, Norman resident and Greenbriar member. “But we’re not worried about it, because we’re not doing anything wrong.”
Ha! That's funny--the poster idea. I'm glad to know someone has a sense of humor about it, because activists sure don't--about anything. Sure wish we knew what the "stoppered vial" was all about.
Thanks for keeping tabs on the court case. I checked the OCIS website earlier today and it had not been updated yet. I'll keep checking and post here if I find anything. (o:
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