May 26, 2004, 1:52 PM EDT
NEWARK, N.J. -- An animal-rights group and seven people have been charged with organizing a campaign of intimidation and harassment against a British company that tests pharmaceuticals on animals.
The group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA, and three of the suspects also were charged in the indictment unsealed Wednesday with stalking and conspiracy to stalk. The stalking charges accuse the activists of placing three people, and their families, in fear of death or injury.
Huntingdon Life Sciences has laboratories in New Jersey.
Those indicted made telephone, e-mail and fax blitzes to divert Huntingdon employees from their work, the indictment said.
The conspiracy charge against all the suspects carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The stalking charge carries a five-year maximum prison term.
A year ago, the FBI's domestic terrorism squad seized computers and printed materials at the activist group's headquarters in Franklin Township and a house in Seattle.
A resident of that house, Joshua Harper, was among those arrested. Arrests were also made in New Jersey, New York and California.
Critics claim Huntingdon kills hundreds of animals a day and treats them cruelly for unnecessary research. Huntingdon's Web site says its research saves human lives and that it is a supporter of the Fund for Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments, which says the level of animal experimentation is too high but that the immediate elimination of it is not practical.
Yeah, these groups are out of control here. You should see how crazy they get with the bear hunting here in Jersey.