EUGENE, Ore. – Chelsea Gerlach was 16 when she attended an Earth First! gathering in Idaho, where she met an instructor in monkey wrenching – sabotage in the name of protecting the environment – who called himself Avalon.
According to federal prosecutors, she developed a crush on William Rodgers, and joined his cell of the Earth Liberation Front in Eugene known as The Family, which later became responsible for 20 arsons around the West that did $40 million in damage, including the 1998 fire that destroyed a restaurant and other facilities at the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado.
Rodgers committed suicide in jail in 2005 after a task force broke open the group by persuading one of its members to turn informant. Gerlach and nine others face sentencing in coming weeks for their parts in the fires, which include forest ranger stations, meat packing plants, wild horse corrals, lumber mill offices, research facilities and an sport utility vehicle dealership.
First prosecutors want a federal judge to declare them terrorists – something defense attorneys argue has never happened in 1,200 arsons nationwide claimed by Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front and is more about politics than time behind bars.
Judge Ann Aiken will hear arguments today in U.S. District Court in Eugene on a motion by the government to add a so-called terrorism enhancement to sentencing guidelines for the six men and four women who have already pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and arson. Those charges carry prosecution sentencing recommendations ranging from three to 16 years.
Practically speaking, a ruling they are terrorists is not likely to boost the time they spend behind bars. Prosecution recommendations, which balance the seriousness of the crimes against how much defendants cooperate with investigators, already include it. But it could send them to tougher prisons.
The case, known as Operation Backfire, is the biggest prosecution ever of environmental extremists, and has turned on its head the prevailing idea arsonists have generally acted alone, said Brent Smith, director of the Terrorism Research Center at the University of Arkansas.
Prosecution filings argue that though the defendants were never convicted of terrorism, they qualify for the label because at least one of the fires each of them set was intended to change or retaliate against government policy.
Burning down the Oakridge Ranger Station on the Willamette National Forest in the 1996, for example, was retaliation for the U.S. Forest Service plan to cut down trees burned by the Warner Creek fire, which activists wanted left standing.
Defense filings counter that none of the fires killed or injured anyone, and the terrorism enhancement is really a way for the Bush administration to claim a victory in its war on terror.
“Branding defendants with the terrorism enhancement will officially label them ‘terrorist’ from the (Bureau of Prisons) perspective, likely resulting in high security designations that will drastically increase the risk of physical and sexual assault against cooperating defendants like Mr. Meyerhoff,” wrote attorney Terri Wood, who represents Stanislas G. Meyerhoff, a high school classmate of Gerlach who faces the stiffest sentence recommendation of 15 years and eight months for his involvement in seven fires and toppling a high-tension power line.
The group disbanded in 2001. Rodgers ran a bookshop in Prescott, Ariz. Gerlach became a DJ in Portland. Meyerhoff enrolled in college in Virginia.
After years of frustration, investigators found one of The Family willing to wear a wire. Jake Ferguson, who had a pentagram tattoo on his head and studied diesel mechanics at Lane Community College, searched out other Family members. The recordings broke open the case. He remains an unindicted coconspirator.
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