RENO, Nev. – Four people were indicted on federal arson charges Thursday in the 2001 firebombing of a federal corral near Susanville, Calif., that housed wild horses and burros rounded up from public rangeland.
Three of the four suspects in the firebombing at the Bureau of Land Management facility about 80 miles northwest of Reno already have been indicted on federal charges, mostly in Oregon in connection with a string of cases of alleged ecoterrorism across several Western states.
One of them, Canadian Darren Thurston, 36, remains in custody in Oregon. Two others previously indicted, Rebecca Rubin, 32, and Joseph Dibee, 38, are listed as fugitives, as is a fourth suspect named for the first time in Thursday’s indictment, Justin Solondz, 26.
“Those who would commit acts of terror, such as arson, in the name of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front should be on notice: Federal law enforcement will do everything in its capacity to track you down and hold you accountable for your dangerous behavior,” U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said.
“Today’s indictments of these four ecoterrorists bring to 11 the total number of ELF or ELF-ALF-related defendants charged in three separate cases brought by this office over the past year.”
Dibee is among three suspects earlier charged with torching the Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, Ore., in July 1997. Rubin, also a fugitive, is among three suspects charged in an arson at U.S. Forest Industries in Medford, Ore., in December 1998.
Four firebombs were rigged to ignite at the Litchfield corral along U.S. 395 about 20 miles northeast of Susanville, Calif., but only one went off, destroying a hay-filled barn on Oct. 16, 2001. A bomb squad disarmed the others.
No one was injured.
If convicted, the penalties under federal law for conspiracy to commit arson and arson are 20 years maximum, a mandatory minimum of five years in prison, and a three-year term of supervised release.
The penalty for use of a destructive device during a crime of violence is 30 years, to be served consecutively to the underlying crime, and a five-year term of supervised release.
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