Earth Liberation Front member gets 42 months for vandalism [“I should be at school, studying.” ]

hamptonroads.com ^

[Sub-Driver]

Earth Liberation Front member gets 42 months for vandalism By SCOTT HARPER, The Virginian-Pilot © April 13, 2004 Last updated: 7:12 PM

Background Coverage: Extreme environmentalists target vehicles, buildings --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RICHMOND — Decrying environmental sabotage as “extremely troubling” and “arrogant,” a federal judge Monday sentenced a member of the radical Earth Liberation Front to 42 months in prison for a 2002 vandalism spree in greater Richmond that damaged new homes, SUVs, construction equipment and fast-food restaurants.

Aaron Labe Linas, 19, apologized in court for the property attacks – called “direct actions” by ELF, an underground environmental group considered a domestic terrorist organization by the FBI – and said he accepts his punishment.

“I should not be here today,” said Linas, dressed in a dark suit, his friends and family dabbing tears from their eyes at the back of the courtroom. “I should be at school, studying.”

Linas is the first of three former students at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico County to be sentenced for conspiring to cause more than $200,000 in damage to vehicles and structures that ELF views as contributing to greed and environmental ruin. It is the first time in Virginia such a case has come to trial.

Co-defendants John Wade Burton, 19 , and Adam Virden Blackwell, 20 , are expected to receive similar federal prison terms when sentenced Wednesday and later this month.

The trio’s monkey-wrenching exploits often were carried out with kerosene, gasoline, sugar, axes, glass-defacing etching cream and threatening notes. Among the late-night actions against new subdivisions, McDonald’s restaurants and Ford dealerships, they also attempted to blow up a crane at Short Pump Town Center Mall in September 2002, when the 120-store complex was under construction in suburban Henrico County.

Matt Geary and Jeffrey Galston , attorneys for Linas, described their slender young client as bright, caring, passionate and determined. He was a Boy Scout, a camp counselor and had volunteered at a local nursing home.

He also was active in his school’s Friends of the Earth club, but soon became disillusioned by what he saw as corporate power and development interests constantly bowling over environmentalists trying to preserve nature. It was then he turned to ELF, which he found on the Internet.

“Unfortunately,” Geary said, “he allowed his passions for the environment ... to take him down the wrong path, to go too far.”

U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer said the case troubled him. He said Linas, from a comfortable middle-class background in suburban Richmond, had “probably never missed a meal ... had no reason to be angry at the world.”

Yet, Spencer said, Linas and his two fellow activists decided they knew what was best for the environment and society and took action against people and property they deemed wrong.

Spencer called this thinking “an arrogance that is deep and cutting,” and said it represents “the seed of destruction” in a free society.

Linas could have faced a harsher penalty, mostly because he destroyed evidence after discovering the FBI was on his trail.

Furthermore, prosecutors dropped any reference to the crime being an act of terrorism in exchange for Linas, Wade and Blackwell signing a plea agreement and cooperating with authorities.

Since then, Linas has been attending junior college and working a construction job. “Yeah, construction; isn’t that ironic?” Geary said.

Brian R. Hood , assistant U.S. attorney, said he might file papers that could lessen the 42-month prison stay, but described the environmental vandalism as “serious, violent felonies.”

[FlyVet]

$200,000 in damage

Judge should put punks like him in a work camp, at minimum wage, until he works off the $200,000 damage he did. And, make sure it's well known that other mindless punks like him will meet the same fate.

[sgtbono2002]

You misunderstand this little creep , when he says he shouldnt be here , he should be at school studying ,he is telling the Judge he should have been turned loose and given a hearty handshake for being such a great Environmentalist. Dont think for a minute he believes what he did was wrong.

[Fintan]

No, you should be in prison learning about the "Pirates of the Posterior."

 

Aaron's transport to the Big House...

 

[BossLady]

"Wait'll the cons hear why this kid is in jail."

I was thinking the same thing.....his new nickname, 'Elfy' or worse.....

It's so sad that prison is this kid's life now....

[richmwill]

Not one word about any monetary compensation to the owners of the homes and property that were damaged. Why not let him work a few years (after his release) to pay off the damage he caused?

[nightdriver]

"Linas is the first of three former students....to be sentenced for conspiring to cause more than $200,000 in damage to vehicles and structures..

So do they get off without paying for what they destroyed?

If not, they, or more like them, will be back to do it again.

[A Jovial Cad]

According to the story, he learned most of this environmental radical pap at school in that "club," then took what he learned to it's natural conclusion. Some of our schools are turning out fanatics every bit as violent as their Islamo-fascist brethern overseas, the "cause" is simply different.

[Clioman]

Perhaps he'll get to share a cell with a caring, 300 lb. bear-like creature named Tiny, who will introduce him to a new way of communing with nature...

[kcvl]

Here's what they did, either as a group or working in twos:

In July of 2002, they used chemicals to etch ELF onto the windows of a Parham Road McDonalds.The trio also damaged construction vehicles on a Route 288 work site.

In August, 2002 in Goochland, they used a hatchet and tools to break windows and damage homes and a tractor in the Temple Heights neighborhood still under construction.

On September 21st, 2002, two of them tried to blow up several vehicles, including a crane at the Short Pump Town Center construction site. They stuck wicks inside the gas tanks and lit them.

Just a week later, two of them hit the Universal Ford Dealership, defacing the windows of 25 SUVs.

Each time, they left a calling card claiming it was the responsibility of ELF. Federal officials say it's amazing that no one was seriously hurt in any of the incidents.

*******

Although these arrests will impact the individuals involved, and the community in which they live, this does not pose a problem for the Earth Liberation Front as a whole. The ELF operates using the strategy of leaderless resistance, where individuals and groups who carry out actions never know or meet others who may also be active. This means that even though one group may be broken up through legal action such as this, others involved in the ELF will not be affected

In the history of the ELF, there have been very few arrests and even fewer convictions. None of these law-enforcement actions have put an end to the Earth Liberation Front in North America, which in 2003 had a record-setting year in terms of total property damage.

The ELF Press Office supports those who are facing repression at the hands of state and federal law enforcement and is available for e-mail interviews concerning this matter.

The Earth Liberation Front is an international underground organization that uses direct action in the form of economic sabotage to stop the destruction of the natural environment. Since 1997, the ELF in North America has caused over $100 million in damages to entities who profit from the destruction of life and the planet.

The Earth Liberation Front Press Office is an autonomous entity that serves to publicize news and actions of the ELF, as reported through news media or by anonymous communications from the individuals involved in activities.

[DLfromthedesert]

The Board of Education and the NEA should have been co-defendants.

[Travis McGee]

Boohoo. Cry me a river, Aaron. (You better get tougher before you meet the bad boys in cell block D.)

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

These jerks trashed a McDonalds in my old neighborhood while I lived there. The clowns did a lot of damage; there should be some form of monetary restitution to go with the jail time.

[upchuck]

There's nothing special about this punk. He chose to become a common criminal and the judge is treating him as such. Hope his two buds get treated the same way.

[kcvl]

"They didn't have bad family background. They would all be considered children of advantage. They grew up in well-off homes. They went to a good school," Mr. McNulty said.

Mr. McNulty credited exposure to books and information on the Internet as motivation. The young men were said to have read Edward Abbey's "The Monkey Wrench Gang," a fictional account of four "environmental warriors" liberating parts of Utah and Arizona from "evil" road-builders and miners, according to "Abbey's Web," a Web site dedicated to Mr. Abbey's life and works.

ELF has roots in a radical environmental group known as Earth First! and in 1992 began ecoterrorism in Oregon. In 1998, an ELF fire at a ski resort in Colorado caused $12 million in damage.

Last September, ELF ecoterrorists set fire — and destroyed — four homes under construction in San Diego, causing more than $1 million in damage, according to the group's Web site. In March, ELF ecoterrorists defaced military vehicles. They spray painted antiwar slogans and the group's initials on three Navy sedans and two Navy vans and set fire to a truck at Navy recruiting headquarters in Montgomery, Ala.

[Arpege92]

"The Board of Education and the NEA should have been co-defendants."

Excellent idea. Perhaps the victims can slam the Board of Education with a huge lawsuit!

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

...described the environmental vandalism as “serious, violent felonies.”

If that's true, and I have no doubt that it is, then we should be talking at least a 10 year sentence. Armed robberies at a sum of $200,000 could realistically get a guy a 10 year sentence, so why not give that sentence to a guy who committed "serious, violent felonies" where property owners took a loss of $200,000?

And, it's a damn good thing for this skiffy punk that the law caught up with him before some property owners did.

[olde north church]

Matt Geary and Jeffrey Galston , attorneys for Linas, described their slender young client as bright, caring, passionate and determined. He was a Boy Scout, a camp counselor and had volunteered at a local nursing home.
I'm sure this slender/passionate young man will be getting a whole, new education in prison!
I hope he's a good student.

[thackney]

Judge should put punks like him in a work camp, at minimum wage, until he works off the $200,000 damage he did.

See post #15

Each defendant has agreed to pay full restitution of $204,021.86, to the parties as set out in the plea agreements made available today. These figures were determined by the actual damages caused by the actions of these three individuals.

[jackbill]

Matt Geary and Jeffrey Galston , attorneys for Linas, described their slender young client as bright, caring, passionate and determined. He was a Boy Scout, a camp counselor and had volunteered at a local nursing home.

And a dangerous idiot.

[Sub-Driver]

um, but that was their parents money......plus their lawyer fees...i'd say the parents are broke due to their child's misguided liberal agenda.....