Animal rights arrests in Santa Cruz- (initial report)

The two other suspects - Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley and Maryam Khejavi, 20, of Pinole - were arrested by the FBI, the San Francisco Joint Terrorism Task Force and UC Berkeley police Friday afternoon. Khejavi was arrested in Oakland and Buddenberg, the only one of the four not tied to the Riverside Avenue house, was arrested at the Alameda County courthouse, according to authorities.

All four will be charged at least in part under the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, police said. The act carries a penalty of up to five years for each violation. It wasn't immediately clear how many counts the suspected animal activists will be charged with.

None of the suspects have been linked to the firebombing attacks of the homes of UCSC researchers last July, but police said they are still probing those attacks.

During the year-long investigation, Pope was arrested and charges with perjury when evidence surfaced that he had obtained a state Department of Motor Vehicles identification card under the name "Nathan Knoerl" without indicating he had a prior ID in a different name. In December, he pleaded no contest to the lesser charge of providing false information to the DMV and was sentenced to time served and probation.

During those court proceedings, investigators never linked Pope to the animal rights protests. Pope and his attorney denied his involvement with the violent demonstrations.

Crimes arrested activists are accused of:
Oct. 21, 2007: A group of 20 protesters demonstrated outside of a UC Berkeley professor's home in El Cerrito. Some wore bandanas to hide their faces. They trespassed on his front yard, chanted slogans and accused him of being a murderer because of his use of animals in research.
Jan. 27, 2008: Demonstrations, including chalking, in front of the homes of several UC researchers
Feb. 20, 2008: A group of five protesters tried to forcibly enter the Westside home of a UC Santa Cruz researcher during a child's birthday party. The researcher's husband was hit during the demonstration.
July 29, 2008: Fliers left at Caffe Pergolesi in Santa Cruz that contained the names, addresses and telephone numbers of several UCSC scientists. The fliers said the researchers were "murders and torturers alive and well in Santa Cruz" and stated "We know where you live. We know where you work. We will never back down until you end your abuse."

Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act
Whomever uses or causes to be used any facility of interstate commerce for the purpose of damaging or interfering with the operations of an animal enterprise, and in connection with such purpose intentionally places a person in reasonable fear of fear of death or serious bodily injury to that person or an immediate family member, or conspires or attempts to do so, by a course of conduct involving threats, acts of vandalism, property damage, criminal trespass, harassment or intimidation, shall be imprisoned for not more than five years.