PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. government has filed papers to garnish the wages of a Portland State University official, to make him pay more in restitution for his role in a pair of eco-anarchist fire bombings.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Bickers filed a writ of garnishment against 33-year-old Jacob D.B. Sherman last week, The Oregonian reported.
Sherman served nearly three years in prison after pleading guilty to firebombing logging trucks and equipment at two Oregon companies in 2001, when he was 19. He was linked to the Earth Liberation Front, which the FBI says is an eco-terrorist group.
A judge ordered Sherman and his co-conspirators to pay restitution for the damage they caused. Sherman’s share was $55,100, and he still owes $43,804.
Sherman says he’s paying regularly, but can’t afford to pay more.
He was arrested after confiding to a girlfriend that he had helped set fire to some logging trucks and that the FBI was tailing him. When she mentioned that her dad was a deputy state fire marshal, he warned her not to tell him. But she did.
Sherman was arrested at age 20. He got out of prison in 2006, returned to college, earning a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s in leadership and sustainability education.
Early last year, he was named the Institute for Sustainable Solutions coordinator of sustainability curriculum.
The writ of garnishment filed last week gives Sherman 10 days to respond.
“I’ve been paying my restitution and am committed to paying my restitution,” Sherman told The Oregonian on Friday. “It’s unfortunate the government has taken this step. I’ve been told that two co-defendants are delinquent.”
Earlier this year, the Portland Tribune carried a feature story about Sherman’s transformation from a long-haired vegan, bumbling eco-arsonist bent on sabotaging corporations to a meat eating, marathon running family man who works within the system.
Sherman explained that he has a family now, student loan debts, and has dutifully made the minimum $50-a-month restitution payments. He said he would pay more if he could afford to.
“I’m definitely not living the high life,” he said.
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