Grand jury implicates Scott DeMuth in 2006 mink farm raid
In a little-publicized move this week, a grand jury expanded the ndictment of Scott DeMuth to include a 2006 mink liberation in Minnesota. This third version of the original indictment adds yet another allegation to the original charge – an alleged role in the A.L.F. liberation of 401 animals from the University of Iowa psych labs in 2004.
The new superseding indictment alleges DeMuth’s unspecified role in a 2006 raid of Lakeside Ferrets, a former mink farm in Howard Lake, Minnesota.
On April 29th, 2006, anonymous activists cut holes in the fence, entered the breeder shed, and released hundreds of mink. In a communique issued soon after, the A.L.F. took credit. The communique read, in part:
Finally, to all fur farmers, furriers, and profiters of death, this
is the last warning: close down your buisnesses, or with
boltcutters, fire, and storm, we’ll do it for you. You can try to
scare us, you can try to imprison us, and you can even try to kill
us, but the day we stop will be the day that the last animal has
been freed from its cage.
The Fur Commission USA claimed after the raid that activists mistook ferrets for mink, and in fact the “mink farm” was actually a ferret farm. While there is evidence to suggest the farm is now a ferret farm, the location in Howard Lake was at one time called the Latzig Mink Ranch. The farm was the site of one of the first-ever mink releases in the U.S. in 1996, when 1,000 mink were liberated.
The first two versions of the indictment accused DeMuth only of an unspecified role in the rescue of 401 animals from the University of Iowa in 2004. The latest version adds an additional accusation of a role in the mink release.
As with the two preceding indictments, the new indictment fails to specify what exactly Scott DeMuth is charged with. The document alleges only that DeMuth caused or attempted to cause “physical disruption to the functioning of animal enterprises including but not limited to the Spence Laboratories at the University of Iowa and Lakeside Ferrets Inc. in Minnesota, and other animal enterprises elsewhere”. No more specific information is given.
This is the latest chapter in the Midwest A.L.F. investigation that continues to get more bizarre and desperate at each step. Eventually, the government will be forced to reveal specific allegations in the case, including what “other animal enterprises elsewhere” DeMuth (a non-vegetarian bow hunter) is alleged to have targeted.
Another A.L.F.-targeted facility denies it was raided by activists
When the Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for liberating 72 chickens from a Utah egg farm Friday, the farm’s response wasn’t condemnation, but denial.
Shepherd Egg Farm was raided for the second time by the A.L.F. on the night of April 1st, 2010, and 72 chickens were rescued. When contacted by the media, both the egg farm and police have refused to acknowledge the raid ever took place.
“(The egg farm) cannot verify that any chickens were released,” a Utah County sheriff said.
Of course no chickens – or any other non-native, domesticated species that won’t survive in the wild – is every “released” in an A.L.F. action. They are placed in homes. That aside, it is nothing new for a targeted animal abuser to refuse to acknowledge an A.L.F. raid. In fact, when they think they can get away with it, it is standard protocol.
Public scrutiny and media attention are two things no animal abuse facility benefits from, and it is always in their best interests to deflect both. Two cases come to mind.
After the A.L.F. raid of E-L Labs (March, 1989), in which 40 rabbits were liberated, the lab refused to acknowledge the raid had occurred. Photos of activists with animal liberated from the lab were later published.
The University of Iowa also kept silent about activists raiding the Spence psychology laboratories in 2004 – referring to the break-in as unspecified apolitical vandalism, despite animal liberation slogans being painted on walls. Only when denial became impossible, and an Animal Liberation Front communique surfaced, did the lab admit animals had been taken.
It is possible the farm found no evidence of a break-in, or missing animals. In a farm with tens or hundreds of thousands of birds, not noticing the absence of 72 of them is plausible. Whichever the case, the denial by Shepherd Egg Farm of an A.L.F. raid makes a case for the A.L.F. to release documentation to the media in the form of photos or video. These will both educate the public, and make the raid irrefutable to abusers.
The farm states there is no evidence of a break-in or tampered cages.
Police have said they are stepping up patrols at the farm.
The Animal Liberation Front takes credit for one massive night of action in Utah.
Two communiques surfaced from the Animal Liberation Front this week, taking credit for four separate Utah actions in a single night.
Chicken liberation
In the first communique, the A.L.F. took credit for the liberation of 72 chickens from Shepherds Egg Farm near Spanish Fork, UT; approximately 60 miles south of Salt Lake City. The animals were reported as being taken to “a better place”.
This is the second liberation at Shepherd’s Egg Farm. In the first (November 1st, 2007), 102 chickens were rescued. The communique issued after the 2007 liberation stated –
Until consumers become responsible and stop paying the exploiters, you can count on the ALF to continue hurting their profits directly through property destruction and other forms of economic sabotage. Around the world the ALF is making progress and saving lives.
Home visits to vivisectors
In the second communique, the A.L.F. took credit for sabotage and (possible) arson attempts at the homes of three University of Utah animal researchers. In what seems to be an allusion to incendiary devices, the communique referenced “cocktails” being left on the doorsteps of each home. Property was also damaged at two of the homes. To date, the mainstream media has not reported on these actions, or the extent of the damage from the “cocktails” (if any).
The communiques
The full text of each A.L.F. communique are below.
Chicken liberation communique:
“April 1st and 2nd – Spanish Fork, Utah
In the late hours of April 1st and the early morning of April 2nd our cell liberated 72 hens from Shepherds Egg Farm near Spanish Fork, Utah. The hens are now being transferred to a better place.
-The Animal Liberation Front”
Animal researcher home visits communique:
“April 1st – Salt Lake City, Utah
It may be april fools day, but the last thing we were doing was fooling around.
On the morning of april 1st, our cell visited the homes of three vivisectors from the University of Utah who have been known to test, torture, and kill many animals from local shelters in unjustified ‘scientific’ experiments. Unlike their drunken, wife abusing colleague Audie Levanthal who decided to quit vivisecting at the U of U after pressure from underground activists, these vivisectors decided to stay, praying that the new laws & legislation’s against Above Ground Activists would help protect them. Well we aren’t above ground activists & laws won’t stop us from doing what is right & helping animals.
In a well executed plan our cell split up.
Our first group visited Robert H. Lane at:
4552 Jupiter Dr.
Salt Lake City, UT 84124
Where we vandalized nearby cars & left a ‘cocktail’ on his doorstep.
Our second group reported visiting Jennifer Ichida at:
422 1st Ave.
Salt Lake City, UT 84103
They reported also leaving a ‘cocktail’ on the front porch. They glued her front door, and sliced her screen door. They also reported vandalizing near-by cars.
The 3rd group of our cell reported visiting Alessandra Angelucci & Paul Bressloff at:
2705 E. Eagle Way
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
Angelucci does the killing while her partner Paul co-publishes her data. They both received a ‘cocktail’ on the doorstep. a 2 for 1 special.
We were quick in executing the attacks. We didn’t stay to see if the doorstop surprises worked. But nevertheless the intent is still there.
We will not back down until you stop the killing.
This action is dedicated to all the heroes in jail & out that are still awaiting trial. Our love & strength is with you.
An inside look at the FBI evidence which led to indictments for a Utah Animal Liberation Front mink release
In March 2009, William “BJ” Viehland Alex Hall were charged with Animal Enterprise Terrorism for the release of 650 mink from the McMullin Fur Farm in South Jordan, UT; and an attempted raid at Blackridge Farms in Hyrum UT. While their case is well-known, little has been written of the evidence which led to their indictment.
After Viehl’s sentencing, I was allowed to view FBI paperwork in their case, outlining the evidence against them.It offers crucial lessons on FBI investigations, and the errors activists make which can lead to their arrest.
In the paperwork, I learned the investigation involved informants, cell phone records, search warrants, and more.
This article uses the case against Alex Hall and William Viehl as a case study in the anatomy of an Animal Liberation Front indictment: the evidence, and the lessons learned.
The Evidence
#1: Car key left at the scene
The most damning evidence was a car key found in the grass at the McMullin Fur Farm the morning after the raid. The key was later matched to Viehl’s vehicle. Viehl would later say the key had fallen from a shallow pocket while he was releasing mink.
#2: Cell phone records
The second most damning evidence against Viehl – and nearly the only evidence against Hall – is cell phone records placing them (or more accurately, their phones) near the mink farm in South Jordan around the time of the raid. Cell phone company records allegedly recorded the signals unique to each phone “pinging” off nearby towers before, during, and after the time of the mink release.
It should be well known at this point that every cell phone regularly broadcasts a signal which pinpoints the location of a phone. This leaves a nearly permanent record of the times and places of one’s travels (or at least the location of one’s phone). Cell phones also function as roving microphones, which can be turned on remotely and can pick up all conversation within earshot of a phone’s mouthpiece – even when the phone is turned off.
#3: Informants
An informant named “Sarah”, believed to be planted in the Salt Lake City animal rights movement by the FBI, was revealed in the paperwork. She attended animal rights meetings, protests, and the Confronting Cruelty conference in the spring of 2008. Paperwork refers to her only as “CHS (Confidential Human Source)”. However, those familiar with her were able to determine her identity from details in the paperwork. Salt Lake City activists remember her as asking a lot of inappropriate questions, and taking extensive notes at meetings. FBI paperwork shows she provided information on numerous individuals in the local animal rights movement.
I can personally verify the existence of “Sarah”: she befriended me at an animal rights conference under the pretext of seeking help for starting a dog rescue in Guatemala. “Sarah” would later takeme on an all-expenses paid weekend trip to Moab, Utah in the fall of 2008.
Most FBI documents covering “Sarah”‘s work contains names and personal information on activists and are too sensitive to release publicly, but three of the documents can be viewed here:
At least two other individuals consented to interviews with the FBI. The information obtained did not appear to aid the FBI’s case, but that in no way mitigates the seriousness of forfeiting your constitutional rights by talking to law enforcement.
#4: Being ID’d near mink farms
The pair had been stopped by police near two Utah mink farms in the weeks following the McMullin release.
Late one night in October 2008, a Hyrum, UT mink farmer who had stayed up all night to watch her farm (after two mink releases had occurred in the previous 6 weeks), followed a car she believed was suspicious. She claims the car pulled over after a short while, and an occupant approached her asking why she was following them. The farmer called police. Viehl and Hall were allegedly ID’d as the occupants.
Two weeks before 7,000 mink were released from the Lodder farm in Kaysville, Hall and Viehl were allegedly stopped by police near the farm. The officer alleged there had been burglaries in the area, and believed the two were casing homes. A subsequent search of the vehicle allegedly turned up ski masks and wire cutters.
#5: Warrantless bank record search
Without a warrant, Viehl’s bank turned over bank records showing (again, allegedly) Viehl hired a locksmith to open his vehicle in the days after the McMullin raid. Because a car key fitting Viehl’s vehicle had been found at the scene, this was used by the prosecutor to further indicate guilt.
#6: Vehicle search
The FBI obtained a warrant to search a vehicle associated with Viehl. The key left at the mink farm was allegedly found to match the vehicle.
Conclusion
In the end, the car key found at the scene and cell phone record placing the phones near the farm the night of the raid provided the most incriminating evidence. The cell phone records are practically the only evidence being used in the (still pending) case against Alex Hall.
While evidence left at a scene and cell phone records cast one under a serious cloud of suspicion, they alone do not conclusively place the defendant at the scene. Evidence such as keys can be planted by the actual culprits to incriminate others, and cell phones being near a crime scene do not prove their owners were. However the supplemental, circumstantial evidence of the pair being ID’d near mink farms may have proven to be the deal-breaker in this case – or at least it provided much less wiggle-room in mounting a defense.
The indictment against William Viehl and Alex Hall is a combination of unfortunate errors and dumb luck on the part of fur farmers and the FBI. The evidence provides insight into the mechanics of FBI investigations, and how activists are apprehended for saving animals.
May future liberators learn from this case, and stay free to fight another night.
-Peter Young
William Viehl plead guilty to the McMullin Fur Farm liberation, and in February was sentenced to two years. At the time of this writing, he is in transit to California, where he will serve his time at a low security prison in Terminal Island. Check back soon for a mailing address.
Alex Hall has plead “not guilty” and is still fighting the charges, with cell phone records being the only substantial evidence against him.
Alex Hall
Inmate #2009-06304
Davis County Jail
800 West State St.
Farmington, UT 84025
The site will be slow to be updated while we work to re-obtain the computers that were taken in yesterdays FBI raid of my home. In the meantime, the search warrant can be viewed here:
FBI agents and law enforcement from multiple agencies have raided a well-known activist group house in Salt Lake City, Utah, today in connection with an investigation of Animal Liberation Front crimes in Iowa.
I just got off the phone with multiple housemates who were there witnessing the raid, and who were able to read the warrant. Details about all of this are still emerging, but at this point it is clear that the warrant was issued by the Southern District of Iowa, and authorizes the seizure of any books, pamphlets, computers and other materials tied to “animal enterprise terrorism.” [UPDATE: Here is copy of the warrant.]
So how did the FBI end up in Utah? One of the housemates, Peter Young, is repeatedly mentioned by name in the warrant. Young was one of the first people prosecuted for “animal enterprise terrorism” in connection to fur farm raids in the late 90s. (His co-defendant Justin Samuel is also mentioned in the warrant). He served two years in prison, and has been living in Salt Lake City, speaking at colleges, and writing on his website, Animal Liberation Front-line. He is among the most vocal, public supporters of the ALF and direct action.
The only connection I can decipher between Young and the Iowa investigation is this: in an emergency motion filed against Scott DeMuth, to keep him in jail, the government calls DeMuth an “anarchist” and “domestic terrorist.” As evidence of this, they say he is an “associate” of Peter Young. As DeMuth’s faculty advisor has publicly explained, this is tied to his research as a graduate student.
There are about nine people living at the activist group house in Salt Lake. At least 15 computers were taken by the FBI, along with boxes of documents, notebooks, files, and address books. The house is well-known in the area as a gathering space for animal rights and other activists. No arrests have been made, and at this point it seems Iowa is being used as a pretext for a continued campaign of harassment and intimidation.
Among the items taken from the FBI’s terrorism raid: a postcard for Iowa 80, “the world’s largest truck stop.”
This morning at 11:30am, approximately 8 FBI agents raided my house and executed a search warrant. The warrant was issued in southern district of Iowa. It called for confiscation of four categories of items related to “animal enterprise terrorism”. The warrant also named several others who did not reside at the house.
Computers were taken in the raid. This site may be updated irregularly until new computers are obtained.
More information forthcoming as attorneys deem it relevant.
Five years after the Animal Liberation Front raids the University of Iowa, the government launches a prosecution that is a fraud on its face
In late-2004, morning workers arrived at the Spence Laboratories to find $450,000 in damage to equipment and 401 animals missing. Graffiti left at the scene read “Science Not Sadism” and “Free The Animals”. In a long communique, the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) took credit.
Just before the 5-year statute of limitations was to expire (most federal crimes have an SoL of 5 years), two Minneapolis activists were subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury in Davenport, IA. It soon became clear the grand jury was investigating the University of Iowa A.L.F. raid. Both were jailed after refusing to testify. Soon after, one of the two – Scott DeMuth – was indicted for Animal Enterprise Terrorism.
Those I have spoken to close to the case awe at the bizarre, unprofessional, and legally unsound nature of the entire prosecution. As one person told me: “When all the facts come out, this DA is going to be very embarrassed”.
All indicators are that the government rushed through an indictment they knew would not stand, in order to freeze the clock on the statute of limitations and buy time to build a more solid case. The case has all the markings of a desperate and unconstitutional prosecution motivated by an attempt to save face after 5 years of failing to apprehend the Animal Liberation Front.
Eight Reasons the Iowa A.L.F. Investigation is a Fraud
Feldman was 15 at the time of the raid
Carrie Feldman, incarcerated for refusing testimony to the grand jury, was a 15 year old sophmore in high school at the time of the raid. Yet a judge has stated the government admitted…
…it sought Ms. Feldman’s testimony because it believes she had knowledge of “a break-in of the University of Iowa Spence Laboratories in November, 2004.
And in a dissenting opinion on Carrie Feldman’s (denied) motion for release, a judge said:
…I am concerned by the necessary implication raised in this matter that the government is seeking Ms. Feldman’s testimony for the sole purpose of gathering additional information to support its indictment against Mr. DeMuth.
DeMuth was 17 at the time of the raid
Unlike Feldman, Scott DeMuth is accused of direct participation in the A.L.F. action (prosecutors have stated they believe he is featured in a video made of the raid). 17 at the time, DeMuth is implicated in an action that has the appearance of one of the most complex and expertly executed in the Animal Liberation Front’s history. According the media reports and the A.L.F. communique, activists picked locks, bypassed four layers of security, used stolen key cards to access labs, and removed 401animals from the building undetected. At 17, DeMuth is accused of an action requiring this level of skill.
DeMuth was not told he was a target of the grand jury
Furthering evidence DeMuth’s indictment was reprisal for his refusal to testify, he was not told he was a target of the grand jury when subpoenaed, as required by law. This bolsters the case that DeMuth’s indictment was motivated by spite, and was an afterthought to his refusal to testify.
The statute of limitations had expired
The indictment was issued four days after the five-year statute of limitations had expired. An appellate court judge stated:
The district court abused its discretion when it found Ms. Feldman in contempt of court because it failed to consider a significant relevant factor, i.e., whether the statute of limitations had run on the crime for which the government seeks Ms. Feldman’s testimony….the government itself cites no authority for the proposition it can abuse the grand jury process to compel a witness to testify regarding a crime for which the statute of limitations has expired.
Indictment is unconstitutionally incomplete
Demuth’s original indictment was so “shockingly vague” (defense lawyers), it failed to provide the following basic information: the elements of the alleged offense, supporting facts and circumstances, the law alleged to have been violated, identifying an element of interstate activity, providing a date range of the alleged conspiracy, where the conspiracy is alleged to have taken place, and basic information as to what he is accused of. The one-page indictment was practically void of any information with which DeMuth could prepare a defense, including any information on what crime he is alleged to have committed.
Law DeMuth charged under did not exist in 2004
Scott DeMuth is charged under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a law that did not exist until 2006 – two years after the University of Iowa raid.
A quote from the motion to dismiss the indictment:
….respectfully moves that his indictment be dismissed since the charges brought against him are under a statute which was not the law at the time of the alleged offense.
Only evidence is DeMuth’s “resemblance” to person in grainy film
The only evidence the prosecutor has stated to support DeMuth’s involvement is his “resemblance” to an individual in a video of the raid. The video of the rescue, taken by the A.L.F., is a grainy black and white film showing activists loading animals onto carts and taking them from the lab. Video would be damning evidence…. were all activists on the video not wearing masks.
DeMuth is not a vegetarian
In perhaps the most absurd example, the government made the folly of charging someone for an A.L.F. action who is not even a vegetarian. In fact, the man accused of conspiring to rescue rats from a lab is a bow-hunter.
Conclusion: The jailing of Carrie Feldman and indictment of Scott DeMuth appears to be motivated by the following factors: desperation, spite, and / or a need to freeze the statute of limitation and buy time to build a substantive case.
The combined factors make the University of Iowa A.L.F. case among the most egregious examples of prosecutorial overzealousness in the animal liberation movement’s history.
18 months later mink are still found living near Utah farm where William BJ Viehl liberated 650 animals.
Media reports of William “BJ” Viehl’s sentencing last week for the liberation of 650 mink never neglected to mention Fur Commission USA lies about the mink’s fate: Nearly all liberated mink recaptured, the rest “hit by cars” or dead from “exposure”. Take note of this TV report which recites the “death by exposure” fur industry stock-response, while showing open sheds which are clearly not climate controlled (as mink sheds never are). A lie, hidden in plain sight.
This recent blog post by a woman in Utah vindicates BJ, and the action for which he now serves a prison sentence. Here, she writes of finding a mink in her yard, near (from what we can extrapolate from details in the blog) the McMullin Fur Farm in South Jordan, Utah:
The mink kept coming back to check out what I was doing and I kept chasing him off. Luckily he ran into our garage so we trapped him inside and Clint and I armed ourselves with nets and after lots of banging and chasing caught him. He escaped about 5 times but we finally got him in a box.
Sadly, the heartless woman returned the mink to the prison from which the animal likely came:
We debated on killing him but I wanted to give him to a mink farmer so we found one and he was happy to take the mink…
Such reports are not uncommon. Regardless of the opinion of our “justice system”, reports of what are likely liberated mink are sufficient vindication for BJ’s actions, and the nightime efforts of the Animal Liberation Front.
In a press release dispatched yesterday, the Civil Liberties Defense Center fired back against the University of Iowa Animal Liberation Front lab raid investigation.
While ostensibly an “ecoterrorism” investigation into the A.L.F. liberation of 401 animals from the University of Iowa’s animal research labs in 2004, in the below statement CLDC lawyers accuse the federal prosecutor of exacting a political agenda, and go on the offensive in the face of this specious prosecutorial assault.
In a future article, I will cover the reasons this A.L.F. investigation is farcical and fraudulent on its face.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Declines to Release 20 Year Old
Carrie Feldman, Jailed For More Than Two Months On Contempt of Grand Jury
Civil Liberties Monitors Charge That Federal Prosecutor Is On Personal Crusade Against Anarchist Ideology; Courts Do Not Rein Him In
Davenport, IA: U.S. Attorney Clifford R. Cronk III is using his office’s investigation of an alleged 2004 animal rights-related break-in at the University of Iowa to harass and punish targets whom he claims identify as anarchists, a political ideology dating back to the early 19th Century. To date, neither his superiors in the Department of Justice, nor the federal courts, have done anything to curtail his abuse of power. In behavior reminiscent of the darkest days of the McCarthy witch hunts, Cronk argues in court documents that anarchists are domestic terrorists who should be locked up for posing a threat to civil society based on nothing but the prosecutor’s unfounded political bias.(more…)
Former University of Iowa student and barred attorney subpoenaed to testify in Animal Liberation Front investigation.
A University of Iowa graduate has been named as the latest person subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury seeking those responsible for the 2004 Animal Liberation Front raid of the University of Iowa.
Leana Stormont, a barred attorney and graduate of the University of Iowa law school, was involved with animal rights activism on campus at the time of the 2004 A.L.F. raid. The action saw the rescue of 401 animals from the Spence psychology labs in an overnight raid by the A.L.F.
A visible animal rights activist on campus, Leana Stormont appears to have been on the FBI’s radar since the Animal Liberation Front break-in. After experiencing harassment in the post-raid FBI investigation, she published an article in the American Chronicle titled “Caring About Animals is Not a Crime” on being surveilled by the FBI and the government’s practice of spying on activists.
With this targeting of a former student activist, the subpoena continues this investigation’s theme of persecuting academic research and expression.
The first person charged in relation to the U of I raid,Scott DeMuth, is not an animal rights activist, but a scholar. 17 years old at the time of the raid, DeMuth appears to have been targeted for his research into the animal rights movements as part of his graduate work at the University of Minnesota. DeMuth was subpoenaed to testify at the grand jury in November after journals were seized in a raid of his home by police attempting to neutralize protests at the 2008 Republican National Convention. In the journals, police claim, were notes on interviews with research subjects indicating to the FBI DeMuth may have privileged knowledge of the animal rights movement. No information specific to the University of Iowa Animal Liberation Front raid has yet been alleged. After refusing to testify, DeMuth was charged with Animal Enterprise Terrorism. He remains out of jail pending trial.
Continuing with this trend – while information at this point is sparse – it would come as no surprise if Leana Stormont is being targeted solely because she was an outspoken University of Iowa animal rights activist at the time of the raid, and was supportive of the A.L.F. in the media. She gave this quote from her op-ed in support of the A.L.F. action, published in the University of Iowa student paper:
As a matter of ethical coherence, I do not believe anyone can condemn the actions at Spence [the laboratory that was attacked by the ALF] without likewise condemning the fact that thousands of animals have been intentionally subject to psychological terror and have lost their lives within the confines of that laboratory. . . .
This new subpoena means the FBI remains on the rampage in pursuit of those who picked locks and broke down doors at the University of Iowa in 2004, giving over 400 animals a second chance at life.
Information is sparse, but word is out that another subpoena has been served in the ongoing investigation into the Animal Liberation Front liberation of 401 animals from the University of Iowa. Any more details at this point – such as the name of the person subpoenaed – are unknown. More information will be posted as it is available, but this should be a strong warning that the storm did not die with the indictment of Scott DeMuth (see this post on his indictment) and the FBI remains on the assault.
I think it is important to circulate word of subpoenas immediately, to give both a strong “head up” that the FBI is moving in on the animal liberation movement, and to bring the secretive, witch-hunt ritual of grand juries into the spotlight.
To date, the grand jury has subpoenaed two people that are known of. Both have refused to testify. Carrie Feldman remains held in jail on contempt charges for refusing testimony (read my pre-jail interview with Carrie), and Scott DeMuth was released upon his formal indictment on Animal Enterprise Terrorism charges, believed to be related to the University of Iowa A.L.F. raid.
More information on the recent subpoena will be posted soon.
-Peter Young
Carrie Feldman remains in jail for refusing to testify to the grand jury investigation the Animal Liberation Front liberation at the University of Iowa. Please send her a letter:
Carolyn Feldman
Washington County Jail.
2185 Lexington Blvd. PO Box 6
Washington, IA 52353
In 1997, the Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) detonated explosives at the nation’s largest fur feed production plant. The explosion gutted the building, inflicting over $1 million in damages, and one of the most significant targets in the fur industry was destroyed. A spokesperson from the Fur Commission USA would recently refer to this action as the local fur industry’s “darkest hour”.
I am posting little-seen photos of the aftermath to celebrate this action as one of the most strategic and large-scale in the history of the Animal Liberation Front. A few reasons I feel the FBAC action is worthy of notice:
*It aimed for maximum destruction, not minimum damage, and did a thorough job of decommissioning the target.
*It destroyed the feed building, and the trucks which deliver the feed – eliminating both the production and distribution-end of the operation.
*At the time, the building kept in business over 50 mink farms in Utah, making it a crucial lynchpin and weak point in an already weak industry.
The new superseding indictment alleges DeMuth’s unspecified role in a 2006 raid of Lakeside Ferrets, a former mink farm in Howard Lake, Minnesota.
