Environmental extremist gets 5 years for attempted arson in Calif.

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April 06, 2010

Environmental extremist gets 5 years for attempted arson in Calif.

The man and another suspect planned to torch luxury condos but their device

didn't ignite properly, authorities said

By Ruby

The Pasadena Star-News

LOS ANGELES — A former Los Angeles resident was sentenced to five years in

federal prison for the 2006 attempted arson of luxury Pasadena condos on behalf

of an environmental extremist group.

Federal authorities said , 44, and a yet to be charged second

suspect planned to torch the 30-unit Vista Del Arroyo Bungalows at 40 Arroyo

Drive using a 64 ounce plastic juice bottle containing gasoline and a delayed

ignition timer.

The device didn't ignite.

, who was sentenced Monday at the federal courthouse in Los Angeles,

allegedly admitted to committing the crime for the Earth Liberation Front. He

accepted a plea bargain and pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to commit

arson.

His attorney, federal public defender Dybwad, didn't return a call

for comment.

learned how to make the explosive device from his accomplice and the two

decided to burn down a multimillion-dollar building project to intimidate and

inflict economic harm on individuals and entities they believed were causing

harm to the environment, according to the plea agreement.

On Sept. 19, 2006, put the gasoline bomb in an upstairs unit of the

development, which was under construction. He lit the fuse but the timer failed.

also admitted to disabling the ignition of a tractor on the site and

scrawling " Another tractor decommissioned by the E.L.F. " on the vehicle with a

black marker.

Federal authorities said arson investigators from the Pasadena Fire Department

and San Valley Arson Task Force estimated the development would have

been destroyed and nearby structures threatened if the device had worked.

" There was enough gasoline to take out the entire complex. It was partially

constructed so mostly wood, " said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherilyn Peace

Garnett.

She said the second suspect in the case hasn't been charged yet but declined to

comment further on the suspect.

Science cracked the case three years later when DNA found on the gasoline bomb

matched 's DNA on a federal database.

was arrested in Texas last year.

He's the second person to be prosecuted in recent years by federal authorities

for domestic terrorism activities involving environmental extremists, said Thom

Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The first case stemmed from a 2003 firebombing and vandalism spree that

destroyed 133 vehicles in Monrovia, Duarte, Arcadia and West Covina in the name

of the Earth Liberation Front.

Jensen Cottrell, a former Caltech graduate student, was re-sentenced in

November 2009 to 100 months in federal prison for participating in the spree

with two other people.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned convictions on seven counts of arson

against Cottrell because it ruled the trial judge improperly excluded evidence

of his Asperger's syndrome.