Scott DeMuth Released From Prison After Six Months

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DeMuth released after serving time for raid that shut down ferret farm

News of this came in late and without much fanfare, but last month Scott DeMuth was quietly released from federal prison. He served six months for the Animal Liberation Front-claimed ferret liberation at a former fur farm in Howard Lake, Minnesota. The prosecutor in the case stated in court the action shut down the farm for good.

Scott DeMuth was originally charged with a role in the 2004 Animal Liberation Front raid of the University of Iowa, in which 401 animals were liberated and $500,000 damages done to the labs. When the prosecution failed to produce evidence of DeMuth’s involvement (he was 17 at the time of the raid), the charges were dismissed in exchange for DeMuth’s guilty plea in the Lakeside Ferrets action.

Reportedly a raid of DeMuth’s home turned up a computer which a computer forensics labs determined was used to look up the address of the farm prior to the raid.

The last month has seen two other animal liberation prisoners released –  Jonathan Paul and Kevin KJonaas. Presently, the only two A.L.F. prisoners who remain in jail are Walter Bond and Justin Solondz.

The action

The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the 2006 raid at Lakeside Ferrets. Reportedly, the communique mistakenly described the animals released as mink. The owner Eugene Latzig claimed he had left the mink farming business and began breeding ferrets at some time prior to the raid. The farm was formerly called the Latzig Mink Ranch, and was raided by the Animal Liberation Front in 1996.  The business changed its name to Lakeside Ferrets at some point in the years since.

Welcome home, Scott.

Read the full history of the case at the Davenport Grand Jury website.

– Peter Young

Mysterious Fire Destroys University Horse Research Lab

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Unexplained fire at Colorado State University completely destroys laboratory

At 1am on July 26th, a fire was reported at the “Equine Reproduction Laboratory”, with 20-foot tall flames engulfing the building. The fire completely destroyed the facility, and damages are estimated at $9 million. The lab was described as a “total loss”.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The FBI has joined local investigators in trying to determine if the fire was deliberately set. As of this writing, neither the Animal Liberation Front nor other clandestine animal liberation group has claimed responsibility.

The lab is considered one of the country’s leading horse reproduction research labs, performing work to benefit the horse racing and horse breeding industries. The lab is described as “world-renown for its ground-breaking research.”

View a slideshow showing the destroyed laboratory here.

This lab would be a legitimate ALF target. I will post all updates on this as yet unexplained fire as I received them.

– Peter Young

FBI Makes Visit Seeking Information on AETA 4 Defendant

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The FBI makes a visit in Oakland seeking information on Joseph Buddenberg of the AETA 4

This week, the FBI made a home visit seeking to question an unnamed person in Oakland about Joseph Buddenberg of the AETA 4. Buddenberg was indicted on Animal Enterprise Terrorism charges in 2009 as part of the case, charged with participating in a protest campaign against UC-Berkeley animal researchers. The case was thrown out just over a year ago. The government has not officially declared the case closed and has the option to re-indict, however there has been little if any visible movement in the case until this incident.

This is the report of the person who answered the door for the FBI:

“This morning (8/10) I was visited at my house in Berkeley, CA by a woman who quickly identified herself as an FBI agent. She was looking for a housemate who was not home, and mentioned that she had some questions about Joseph Buddenburg. Her demeanor was nice and she assured me a couple times that my housemate was in no trouble and that she “just wanted to talk” and “just had a couple questions.” When I told her that my housemate was not around she asked if I knew Joseph. After I told her I had no idea who Joseph is, the agent gave me her business card, asked my housemate to get in touch with her and left.”

Most lawyers agree the best way to handle a visit by law enforcement is to get their card and then shut the door. There are many reasons why speaking to the FBI is never a good idea. I recommend everyone read the primer on dealing with law enforcement called If An Agent Knocks.

Let’s hope this visit does not indicate a renewed interest in the AETA 4 case, perhaps the most farcical charges in the history of the animal liberation movement.

– Peter Young

Memo Shows Prison Mail Screened by a “Counter-Terrorism Unit”

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Mistakenly released by the Bureau of Prisons, an internal memo reveals prison mail screening by an “intelligence analyst”

It’s no secret all prison mail in and out is read by prison employees, regardless of the prisoner’s crime. But a memo mistakenly included in a rejected letter to an ELF prisoner reveals interesting new information: her mail is screened by an “intelligence analyst” in a BOP “counter-terrorism unit”.

Read the memo here.
BOP Letter

The memo appears to have been inserted accidentally into an envelope for a rejected letter to Earth Liberation Front prisoner Joyanna Zacher when it was returned to the sender. The letter was rejected for being “unauthorized material”, according to the official form that was also included. The second document, viewed above, showed specifically who rejected the letter, and why: it contained a review of the film “If a Tree Falls“, a review which the “intelligence analyst” felt advocated violence.

The memo “analyzes” two other pieces of mail. One is cleared, and the second is rejected because a database search showed a former federal prisoner lives at the return address on on the envelope.

During my incarceration from 2005 to 2007, I cannot recall any instance of my mail being rejected based on content which “advocated violence”, and only one content-based rejection during my entire stay. The trend in federal prisons seems to be towards more restrictions on prisoner’s ability to communicate with the world outside, as this memo indicates.

The memo means absolutely nothing new to those who continue to support prisoners by writing them letters, and should in no way dissuade anyone from continuing to write. Incoming mail has always been read in federal prisons.

What is significant is:

1) The Bureau of Prisons has a central “counter-terrorism unit” selectively screening the mail of Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front prisoners, and –

2) They are rejecting mail for those prisoners based on content – content which is presumably allowable for prisoners not deemed “eco-terrorists”.

– Peter Young

Last SHAC Prisoner Released: Kevin Kjonaas is Free

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Kevin Kjonaas, the last of the “SHAC 7” prisoners, is released

In His First Court Appearance, Justin Solondz Pleads Not Guilty

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A brief update on accused ALF / ELF prisoner Justin Solondz

The man accused of participating in two arsons – one of them claimed by the Animal Liberation Front – pleaded not guilty to helping set fire to the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture. It was his first court appearance in the US since being extradited from China, where he was apprehended after spending years as a fugitive.

It is not clear when Solondz will appear in court to answer for the Animal Liberation Front-claimed arson charges. He has been charged with releasing wild horses and helping set fire to a BLM wild horse corral in Susanville, CA, in 2001.

Solondz is the latest fugitive apprehended as part of the FBI sweep dubbed the “Green Scare” case.

More updates will be posted as they come in.

-Peter Young

Pre-Prison “Vegan For Life” Flier by ALF Prisoner Walter Bond

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View a flier made and distributed by Walter Bond before his arrest for Animal Liberation Front arsons

This week I was sent this flier made by Walter Bond, before his arrest for Animal Liberation Front-claimed arsons at Sheepskin Factory, Tiburon, and Tandy Leather Factory. It is very reminiscent of literature that circulated among the grassroots movement in the mid-1990s.

You can download the flier here, or view below.

Vegan for Life Flier by Walter Bond

ALF Prisoner Jonathan Paul Released After Nearly Four Years

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Finishing a four-year sentence for burning down a horse slaughterhouse, Jonathan Paul is released from prison

After 3.2 years in a federal prison and 6 months in a halfway house, Jonathan Paul walked free on July 1st, 2011.

In addition to pleading guilty to the 1997 Animal Liberation Front arson that closed the Cavel West horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, Oregon; Paul also admitted a role in a slew of high-profile ALF raids going back to the 1980s. Among them, the raid on Loma Linda University in 1988, and the University of Arizona in 1989. The latter was the largest laboratory raid in US history.

He released this short statement after his release:

“After almost 3.2 years behind the fence and 6 months at the halfway

house at 5:30 am this morning on July 1, 2011 I have been released

and other than having probation I am finally free from the bureau of

prisons.  Thanks for all of your love and support! Yippee! See you

all soon!”

Pre-Arrest Interview With ALF Prisoner Walter Bond

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Interview with Walter Bond done one year before his arrest

Before Walter Bond gained attention for setting fire to three animal abuse businesses on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front, he was already known for another act of vigilante justice: burning down the meth lab of a dealer who was selling to his brother. Vegan straight edge band Earth Crisis heard his story, and turned it into the song “To Ashes” in 2009, making Walter well-known in the straight edge movement before his arrest for ALF actions in 2010.

I was sent this brief interview with Walter Bond done on July 28th, 2009, a full year before his arrest. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only existing pre-prison interview with Walter. It is being published here for the first time.

Earth Crisis song “To ashes” deal with a topic which is quite hard, and it concerns you. Can you tell us about it?

Sure, the song “to ashes” is about an arson charge that I received in November of 1997 for burning down the home of a meth dealer (more…)

Supporting the ALF and Dating the FBI: Three Interviews

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Three recent interviews

With every Animal Liberation Front-line article, I make sure it fills one of three criterion: 1) News you won’t read anywhere else. 2) Already reported news with a new angle / increased depth, or 3) Already reported news with a spin that leaves the reader (hopefully) more empowered than scared.

One thing I don’t do is much editorializing. That’s not what this site is for, and as such there are a lot of topics related to the animal liberation movement that don’t get covered.

To fill in a few of those gaps, I’m posting three interviews I’ve done in recent weeks that do a good job of covering important subjects outside the scope of the site.

Citizen Radio (audio interview with Allison Kilkenny and Jamie Kilstein)

Fun interview with great interviewers. Dropping through skylights at 18, finding out the woman you’re dating is working for the FBI, and the best question of all: “What makes you happy?”

Listen here.

XVO

The mindset of those who work outside the law, being effective legally, dealing with the FBI, and a brief but controversial swipe at food fetishists.

Read here.

Negotiation is Over

Phone interview on finding a place in the movement after prison, working with the filmmakers of Bold Native, the effect of arrests on the underground animal liberation movement, direct action trends over the last 30 years, and how to support the Animal Liberation Front.

Read here.

Here’s the full text of the XVO interview:

Do you mind talking about the reality of being imprisoned and how you felt when you realized you’d reached a point where there is ‘no turning back’ and that ‘by any means necessary’ were the way things had to be done to achieve the aims you wanted?

I came into the movement knowing I was going to prison. Not courting it, but accepting if I acted in a way commensurate with the urgency I felt towards acting to stop what was happening to animals, I would go to prison. From the beginning, stopping animal abuse and the probability of prison were a package deal. (more…)

ALF / ELF Fugitive Justin Solondz Arrested

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After three years in a Chinese jail, Justin Solondz is taken into US custody

Justin Solondz spent years on the run before being arrested in China three years ago. This week, after years in a Chinese jail, he was deported and taken into US custody at a Chicago airport.

He is being charged with a role in two actions: the 2001 University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture arson (claimed by the Earth Liberation Front), and the arson and attempted animal release at the 2001 Litchfield Wild Horse and Burro Corral in Susanville, California (claimed by the Animal Liberation Front).

Recently, Solondz’s former girlfriend, Briana Waters, entered into a plea deal in which she agreed to testify against Solondz at his upcoming trial.

A search for his name on the BOP Inmate Locator did not give any results, and his current jail address is not known.

View the FBI “wanted” poster for Solondz here.

With several cooperating witnesses, he faces a hard legal battle ahead. I will be posting his jail address as soon as it is available. For now, give your silent support to the three remaining fugitives from this FBI sweep dubbed the “Green Scare case”. They are somewhere out there tonight, continuing to be hunted as “terrorists” by the FBI.

– Peter Young

Walter Bond Pleads Guilty to Two ALF Arsons in Utah

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Walter Bond pleaded guilty yesterday to two Utah Animal Liberation Front arsons

In a hearing today, Walter Bond changed his plea to “guilty” in charges he set fire to two businesses in the Salt Lake City area. Prosecutors say Bond set fires at the Tandy Leather Factory Store and the Tiburon restaurant. Total damages were more than $10,000. Both were claimed by the Animal Liberation Front.

Bond is already serving a 5-year sentence after pleading guilty in Colorado to burning down Sheepskin Factory, a retail store that sold sheepskins.

This is a view of the burned-out Tandy Leather Factory in Salt Lake City:

A judge set Bond’s sentencing for Sept. 19, where he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Media reports were conflicting, but it appears prosecutors will not be asking for the Utah sentence to run back-to-back with his current Colorado sentence.

An excerpt from the Sheepskin Factory communique, which Bond took credit for:

“Be warned that making a living from the use and abuse of animals will not be tolerated,” ALF Lone Wolf wrote in the aftermath of the Sheepskin Factory fire. “Also be warned that leather is every bit as evil as fur, as demonstrated in my recent arson against the Leather Factory in Salt Lake City. Go vegan!”

Please write Walter a letter of support:

Walter Edmund Bond

Davis County Jail
Walter Bond 2011-03339
PO Box 130
Farmington UT 84025-0130

And check out Walter Bond’s support site:

Support Walter

Fur Farm Signs Threaten Trespassers with Terrorism Charges

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The Fur Commission USA issues new signs threatening Animal Enterprise Terrorism charges for trespassers

About 18 months ago, reports began to come in of new signs posted at fur farms around the country. People in Oregon and Utah who had demonstrated at farms noticed new signs, which read:

“Private Property

No Trespassing

A course of conduct involving criminal trespass is punishable under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act… with a fine and up to five years in prison

Violators will be prosecuted under this and all other applicable local and federal statutes”

The signs are often seen posted at the entrance to mink farms, and places around the farm’s perimeter that a farmer might consider access points for the Animal Liberation Front.

As I often have to mention on this site: I am not a lawyer. But from where I stand, this sign seems to be the same thing as saying nothing at all. While there are many non-felonious reasons someone would trespass on a fur farm (obtaining footage, for example), the most common reason would be to liberate animals. An act which, as I can personally testify, is already illegal.

Here is a photo of the sign at the McMullin fur farm in South Jordan, Utah, raided by the ALF in 2008:

As an attempted Animal Liberation Front deterrent, a sign is feeble, desperate, and laughable. As ineffectual as the only other security precaution on (most) fur farms: a cheap chicken wire fence easily felled by the masked liberators these pathetic signs are intended to deter.

– Peter Young

Lead informant in ALF / ELF Cases Sentenced to 5 Years

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Infamous snitch Jacob Ferguson arrested on drug charges, sent to prison

The man who wore a wire for the FBI and sent over a dozen people to prison for ALF / ELF actions is himself now going to prison. Jacob Ferguson was sentenced this week to 5 years for “manufacturing, possessing and selling heroin”, according to court records.

Ferguson rose to infamy after becoming the lead informant in the “Operation Backfire” FBI sweep. The arrests led to prison sentences for over a dozen people on arson charges for  ALF / ELF actions going back almost 10 years. Three of those charged – Joe Dibee, Josephine Sunshine Overaker, and Rebecca Rubin – are still on the run.

His role in over a dozen arsons claimed by the Animal Liberation Front / Earth Liberation Front made him a valuable asset for the FBI. When he secretly began cooperating with the government in 2004 to send many of his former friends to prison, he accepted a plea bargain which called probation only and no prison time.

That ended this week when a recent drug bust finally led Ferguson to prison. He is also expected to receive a federal prison sentence in addition to his 5 year state sentence.

Ferguson sent people to prison for the following ALF actions (in addition to numerous other ALF / ELF actions):

Cavel West horse slaughterhouse arson (1997)

Burns BLM wild horse corral arson (1997)

Childers Meat Company arson (1999)

The government’s sentencing memorandum, detailing every action Ferguson implicated others in, can be read here.

For a well known snitch, the prisoners where Ferguson is going are likely to be even less forgiving than the judge who sent him there.

– Peter Young