Posted on 08/13/2002 4:02:35 PM PDT by Shermy
The Oregon FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested two people today in connection with an arson fire that damaged log trucks in Eagle Creek in June of last year. Two others were indicted and are being sought.
The truck fire happened near where protesters were camped out to block the now-canceled Eagle Creek timber sale.
Federal prosecutors said the suspects face up to a million dollars in fines and 30 years in jail.
A well-known Portland activist is among those indicted. Michael J. Scarpitti -- who goes by the name Tre Arrow -- is most known for living on a ledge of the U.S. Forest Service building in downtown Portland two years ago in a timber protest that lasted eleven days. Officers are searching for Scarpitti, along with activist Angela Marie Cesario, to arrest them in this developing case.
Twenty-year-old Jacob Sherman and 25-year-old Jeremy Rosenbloom were indicted by a federal grand jury shortly before today's arrests at their residences. They made an initial court appearance this afternoon and trial was set for October 16th.
Investigators said these arrests are a key breakthrough in the investigation into the ecoterrorism arson case at Eagle Creek. The damaged log trucks belong to Ray Schoppert Logging Company, which had a contract to log the 1,030-acre Eagle Creek timber sale. The sale was the subject of prolonged protests and has since been canceled.
Court documents do not link the four suspects to the ecoterrorism groups ELF or ALF, but said the incinerary devices used to torch the Eagle Creek logging trucks were similiar to the formula used to set Ross Island Sand and Gravel trucks on fire in a similar case. The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility in that arson but the case is still pending.
Not only that, but Tre Arrow is the same exact moron who climbed a tree to elude arrest for trespassing and then fell asleep and went KER-PLUNK! on the ground. Of course he immediately after getting out of the hospital (all expenses paid by our taxes) he filed a lawsuit against the forest service for causing his injury.
We do not get paid for what we do (ergo we are high-minded and above reproach)
The Oregon Government Selling timber rights to private corporations so they can make a (gasp) profit (ergo they are evil because they wish to make a profit)
Someone please put this guy out of our misery!!!!
It angers me greatly that the city gives tax dollars to the eco-terror organizations that victimize property owners. Last year, right in the middle of the Klamath Basin crisis, Portland granted the bastards tens of thousands of dollars to keep up the fight against farming. Every time these thugs escape punishment for trespassing and vandalism, they are emboldened to become more extreme. Pipe bombs and gasoline bombs are more and more common all the time as the punks start to believe that terrorism is a valid form of political expression.
Exactly...and schools like the University of Montana will wink at this and continue to advocate eco-terrorism in the name of "saving the environment."
I do not support arson and other property damage done in the name of protesting logging. It is worse then counter-productive to that cause. I hope if he and his friends are convicted, they are given long sentences.
Here is the oregonian sory on this:
Suspect in anti-logging arson still at largePopular forest activist Tre Arrow remained a fugitive on arson charges Wednesday as a federal magistrate in Portland freed his three co-defendants from jail pending trial.
Arrow's co-defendants -- Jacob D.B. Sherman, 20; Angela M. Cesario, 23; and Jeremy D. Rosenbloom, 25 -- pleaded not guilty to charges that they set fire to logging trucks during last year's protests of the Eagle Creek timber sale. Each faces up to 80 years in prison.
Authorities took Sherman and Rosenbloom into custody Tuesday morning, and Cesario turned herself in that evening.
Attorneys for the three said in court Wednesday that their clients have long been aware the FBI was investigating the June 1, 2001, arson at Ray A. Schoppert Logging Inc. near Estacada. Yet none fled, they said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Jelderks noted that the three had no criminal records, held jobs and were students at Portland State University. Jelderks released them pending trial but with conditions: They must remain in Portland -- Cesario also may travel to Gresham -- and stay at home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Also, Jelderks said they are not to associate with environmental groups. None of the activists quibbled about that condition. But Andrew Bates, Sherman's lawyer, argued that it appeared to violate free-speech rights.
"It seems fundamentally unconstitutional," he said.
Jelderks said the defendants were free to return to court seeking redress of the restriction. But he cautioned that FBI agents might monitor such associations as part of their investigation, which might hurt their defense.
Jessica White, a volunteer with Cascadia Forest Alliance, said it seemed unfair to label Arrow a fugitive because he might not be aware of the arson charges.
"Tre is no danger to the public," she said. "He has a history of nonviolence, very public civil disobedience."
Arrow, whose given name is Michael J. Scarpitti, drew attention to the Eagle Creek logging project in July 2000 when he perched 11 days on a ledge outside a U.S. Forest Service building in downtown Portland. He also made an unsuccessful bid for Congress. Bryan Denson: 503-294-7614: bryandenson@news.oregonian.com
There is a big movement to appeal and reduce Mr. Luer's sentence. His partner in crime got five years and will be out on the streets very soon relatively speaking.
Here is the IndyMedia.Org/Portland link to this Tre Arrow story:
Stop the attacks by the wacko, extreme left-wing, enviro-nazis terrorist's on our Freedoms !!
Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!
Molon Labe !!
There is a big movement to appeal and reduce Mr. Luer's sentence.You wish. The professional protest crowd might raise an occasional fuss, but "Free" isn't going to be -- for a long, long time. And, that is good news for all the decent citizens of this state.
As for the prospect of an appeal of his sentence, it is being done, and Luer's defense fund is getting large donations from all over the world.
Luers also recieves a great deal of mail from many places other then the U.S. I understand he is particularly popular in England. <pMy heads up on this is an informed one. I also have lived through the terror of a house fire as a child. I truly do not like arsonists at all.
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