When he was growing up in Monroe, accused ecoterrorist Zachary “Ollie” Jenson was a quiet guy who wore button-down shirts, earned decent grades and didn’t talk much about his views.
In the three years since graduation, he’s become a young man searching for answers.
In an online journal, Jenson, 20, chronicled a cross-country trip fueled with chain-smoking, coffee and drugs he shared with strangers. He camped out under the stars, marveling as much at the scenery as the magenta-red hair of a girl he was too shy to approach.
He attended protests against biotechnology and big business, but he wrote that the gatherings were pointless because no one paid any attention.
On Wednesday, Jenson was indicted on federal charges that he helped plot to blow up a U.S. Forest Service building in California. Meanwhile, federal agents acknowledged that they will investigate to see if there is a connection to ecoterrorist attacks in Snohomish County.
“It’s logical to look at any kind of extremist-type crimes that occurred in the area and see if they’re related,” FBI spokeswoman Robbie Burroughs said.
FBI agents won’t say if Jenson is a suspect in the release of minks from a Sultan farm in 2003 or the arsons that destroyed two Snohomish houses in 2004. However, his arrest and possible ties to an environmental extremist group will lead investigators to probe any possible connection to the unsolved crimes here, Burroughs said.
Jenson and two others were indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento with conspiring to damage or destroy property using fire or explosives. The alleged targets included the U.S. Forest Service Institute of Forest Genetics in California, a fish hatchery, cell phone towers and a power station, according to the indictment.
Jenson, along with Eric McDavid, 28, and Lauren Weiner, 20, are believed to be members of the Earth Liberation Front, a loosely organized group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of arsons in recent years, the FBI said.
They are being held in the Sacramento County Jail and are expected to be arraigned today. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in federal prison.
A confidential informant fed information to the FBI about the trio starting in July, reporting that the group had discussed potential targets and purchased materials to make explosives. Agents believe McDavid recruited Jenson and Weiner to assist with a series of bombings planned for this spring.
The group was arrested Jan. 13 in Auburn, Calif., while leaving a Kmart store, where they had bought respirator masks, rubber gloves, bleach and glass cleaner, according to records.
Jenson’s friends were surprised that he had been accused of terrorism.
“He has a lot of political views and ideas about how the world should be, but it surprises me that he’d be planning anything harmful,” said friend and former roommate Cassie Mello-Reece.
Mello-Reece, 21, graduated from Monroe High School with Jenson in 2003.
Jenson was quiet, smart and shy during high school, Mello-Reece said.
“He was kind of nerdy, but he changed after graduation. He didn’t care about how he looked anymore and had notions about society. He read a lot and would attend peaceful protests,” she said.
Mello-Reece shared a house with Jenson and several other friends in Shoreline last year.
Previously, Jenson lived with his parents and younger brother in the Fryelands area of Monroe until 2004, when his parents divorced, according to court documents.
Jenson didn’t appear to have a permanent address at the time he was arrested. He had adopted a transient lifestyle, hitchhiking across the country, the FBI said.
An online journal found on Jenson’s blog on myspace.com records his travels last year, including time spent with co-defendant McDavid.
In one entry, Jenson wrote:
“No one is gonna listen to people walking in the streets with signs, not if there’s profit on the line. But something will happen when there’s people in the street with Molotov cocktails.”
Jenson didn’t write about the Earth Liberation Front or the attacks he is accused of planning.
Mello-Reece is not convinced that Jenson would plot fire-bombings.
“I could see him joking around, and if he finds people he really likes, he goes along with them,” she said. “It makes more sense to me that it was a joke than actually things going too far.”
Jenson never mentioned any involvement in releasing minks in Sultan or starting fires in Snohomish, Mello-Reece said.
“If he’d done those things, he would have bragged about it to us,” she said.
No one has been arrested in connection with the release of more than 10,000 minks from a Sultan farm three years ago. The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for cutting a metal fence and opening the minks’ cages.
Investigators also haven’t arrested whoever was responsible for setting fire to two houses under construction in Snohomish two years ago.
Bottles of gasoline, cardboard rolls stuffed with newspaper and makeshift fuses were found the same day at a development 13 miles away, and flammable devices were found the next day at a Monroe housing development.
The Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the fires and attempts, which caused about $1 million in damage.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@ heraldnet.com.
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