Posted on 12/22/2005 8:17:09 PM PST by stocksthatgoup
PHOENIX (AP) -- An Arizona bookstore owner charged in the firebombing of a government wildlife lab in Washington committed suicide in his jail cell Thursday, officials said.
William C. Rodgers, 40, of Prescott, Ariz., suffocated after placing a plastic bag over his head while in a one-person cell in Flagstaff, the Coconino County medical examiner said.
Rodgers was one of six people arrested earlier this month in connection with ecoterror attacks in Oregon and Washington in recent years.
He was accused of setting fire to the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services facility in Olympia, Wash., in 1998.
Federal court documents last week said Rodgers had been linked to a meeting of Earth Liberation Front members in western Colorado where the firebombing of a Colorado ski resort, one of the costliest ecoterror crimes in the U.S., was planned.
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I expect to see several of them 'follow' his example.
ROTFLMAO!!!!
He was a selfish SOB - didn't take any of his buddies with him.
R U suggestin they've got plasdick bags fer their durdy lawndry???
Wait! R U tryin ta say this dude was a rare and endangered canary??? And that they wuz afraid he wuz gonna sing his tail fethurs off???
I too figured he killed himself so as not to give away names, etc. Sounds like his bookstore was "eco-terrorism central".. But then I wondered if these vegan types had that mentality in them? When I think terrorism and suicide my thoughts don't jump to granola chomping dudes and dudettes.
Although I don't think the muslims could stand these types of folks (either!) - they both have a similar cause in bringing down the "Great Satan".
Duz ya member back in the Klintun daz, der wuz dis guy dat cud send da klintuns to da farm 4 a long stay? And dis guy mizteryuslee wuz given a corvet 4 his burthday, and dat corvet had a bad habit uv slammin inter power pols? Wen he croked, da klintuns vacayshun got cansuled?
He's so peaceful, he forgot to breathe. Eternal peace...
He did even more:
Vail arson suspect found dead in jail
PHOENIX An Arizona bookstore owner charged with eco-sabotage in Washington was found dead in a Flagstaff jail cell early Thursday, authorities said.
William C. Rodgers, 40 who also had been called a suspect in the 1998 Vail arson attacks but hadnt been charged committed suicide, according to the Coconino County sheriffs office.
The county medical examiner determined that Rodgers suffocated after placing a plastic bag over his head while he was being held in a one-person cell.
Rodgers was one of six people arrested this month in connection with ecoterror attacks in Oregon and Washington in recent years. He was charged in the firebombing of a government wildlife lab outside Olympia, Wash.
In an affidavit filed in federal court last week, an FBI agent said Rodgers attended a meeting of Earth Liberation Front members in western Colorado where the Vail attacks were planned.
The Earth Liberation, which claimed responsibility for the fires that destroyed the Two Elk restaurant and other buildings, said the attack was a response to Vail Resorts expansion into Blue Sky Basin. The group claimed to be defending rare lynx, which have since been spotted in the Vail area but not in Blue Sky Basin.
Rodgers was supposed to be transported shortly to Seattle to face the charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Engdall said during a bail hearing Thursday in Eugene, Ore., for another suspect, Chelsea Gerlach, 28.
Photo by The Associated Press
Chelsea Gerlach, 28, who has been implicated but no charged in the 1998 Vail arson attacks, was denied bail Thursday and put on suicide watch, authorities said.
The Associated Press
Browse Vail Daily Photos
Engdall said Gerlach, who also has been linked to the Vail arson but not charged, was placed on suicide watch as a result of Rodgers death because of her close relationship with Rodgers.
Gerlachs attorney, public defender Craig Weinerman, denied the close relationship.
Magistrate Thomas Coffin denied Gerlachs request for bail after Engdall said a search of her apartment in Portland on Wednesday had turned up false identification documents with her picture, and materials to make more.
Coffin said that strongly suggested she might try to flee if released on bail.
Weinerman had argued that she should be released because the governments case was based on the testimony of two other people who had admitted setting other fires.
Engdall added that she was also a suspect in the Oct. 14, 2001 arson of federal wild horse corrals in Susanville, Calif. No charges have been filed in that case.
Vail, Colorado
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