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BREAKING NEWS: Four arrested in animal rights attacks
SANTA CRUZ - Federal authorities have arrested four suspected animal rights activists in connection with violent protests in Santa Cruz and Alameda County, police reported Friday.
BREAKING NEWS: Four arrested in animal rights attacks
By Jennifer Squires - Sentinel staff writer
Posted: 02/20/2009 02:29:47 PM PST
SANTA CRUZ - Federal authorities have arrested four suspected animal rights activists in connection with violent protests in Santa Cruz and Alameda County, police reported Friday.
Three of the four were linked to the Riverside Avenue home police raided after the home invasion attack of a UC Santa Cruz researcher a year ago, according to Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend.
Nathan Pope, 26, of Oceanside and Adriana Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach were arrested by the FBI and the Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force at an airport in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday when they returned to the U.S. from Costa Rica, police reported. They appeared in federal court in Charlotte on Friday.
The two other suspects - Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley and Maryam Khajavi, 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.
Santa Cruz Police Chief Howard Skerry said the arrests came "due to the tenacity of investigators," but declined to speak specifically about the probe, evidence collected or any future arrests. Santa Cruz police were involved in the investigation, but the FBI was the lead law enforcement agency handling the case.
Still, he said he was pleased with the progress made in the past year.
"A lot of cases are very complex," Skerry said. "We don't give up on the cases. If it takes years, it takes years."
Pope, Stumpo, Buddenberg and Khajavi 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 face. They are expected to appear in U.S. District Court later this month.
The foursome are accused of being involved in demonstrations in front of homes of UC Berkeley researchers in October 2007 and January 2008, as well as carrying out a protest and home invasion attempt at the Westside house of a UCSC researcher in February 2008. In that attack, which occurred during a child's birthday party, the scientist's husband suffered minor injuries.
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.
"It's still an active investigation," Skerry said. "This obviously isn't the end of it."
Skerry also declined to say if there had been any other threats against UCSC researchers since the August firebombings.
Santa Cruz police detectives on Friday notified the Santa Cruz family attacked in February of the arrests. Skerry said he had not heard what the family's reaction was.
One of the four arrested this week has been in legal trouble recently. Pope was arrested and charges with perjury when evidence surfaced last summer that he had obtained a state Department of Motor Vehicles identification card in 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.
However, 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.
By Jennifer Squires - Sentinel staff writer
Posted: 02/20/2009 02:29:47 PM PST
SANTA CRUZ - Federal authorities have arrested four suspected animal rights activists in connection with violent protests in Santa Cruz and Alameda County, police reported Friday.
Three of the four were linked to the Riverside Avenue home police raided after the home invasion attack of a UC Santa Cruz researcher a year ago, according to Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend.
Nathan Pope, 26, of Oceanside and Adriana Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach were arrested by the FBI and the Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force at an airport in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday when they returned to the U.S. from Costa Rica, police reported. They appeared in federal court in Charlotte on Friday.
The two other suspects - Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley and Maryam Khajavi, 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.
Santa Cruz Police Chief Howard Skerry said the arrests came "due to the tenacity of investigators," but declined to speak specifically about the probe, evidence collected or any future arrests. Santa Cruz police were involved in the investigation, but the FBI was the lead law enforcement agency handling the case.
Still, he said he was pleased with the progress made in the past year.
"A lot of cases are very complex," Skerry said. "We don't give up on the cases. If it takes years, it takes years."
Pope, Stumpo, Buddenberg and Khajavi 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 face. They are expected to appear in U.S. District Court later this month.
The foursome are accused of being involved in demonstrations in front of homes of UC Berkeley researchers in October 2007 and January 2008, as well as carrying out a protest and home invasion attempt at the Westside house of a UCSC researcher in February 2008. In that attack, which occurred during a child's birthday party, the scientist's husband suffered minor injuries.
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.
"It's still an active investigation," Skerry said. "This obviously isn't the end of it."
Skerry also declined to say if there had been any other threats against UCSC researchers since the August firebombings.
Santa Cruz police detectives on Friday notified the Santa Cruz family attacked in February of the arrests. Skerry said he had not heard what the family's reaction was.
One of the four arrested this week has been in legal trouble recently. Pope was arrested and charges with perjury when evidence surfaced last summer that he had obtained a state Department of Motor Vehicles identification card in 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.
However, 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.
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Four animal activists arrested for allegedly harassing UC researchers
The arrests are a breakthrough in the investigation of attacks against a number of University of California animal researchers that have long frustrated police and school officials.
By Richard C. Paddock
7:03 PM PST, February 20, 2009
Reporting from San Francisco -- Four animal activists have been arrested for their alleged roles in attacking and harassing animal researchers at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz over the last 18 months, the FBI announced today.
The arrests are a breakthrough in the investigation of attacks against a number of University of California animal researchers that have long frustrated police and school officials. None of the suspects, however, was charged with participating in the most serious violence against UC scientists, including the firebombing of the homes of researchers at UCLA and UC Santa Cruz.
Extremists' attacks on scientists at the three UC campuses have been intended to halt researchers' use of animals in experiments, according to a website that advocates violent action to protect lab animals. UC officials defend their researchers, arguing that the use of animals in experiments is carefully regulated and essential to advancing medical science.
"With so many legal options to make their voices heard and to effect policy change, it is inexcusable and cowardly for these people to resort to terrorizing the families of those with whom they do not agree," said Charlene B. Thornton, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco office.
The FBI identified the four suspects as Adriana Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach, Nathan Pope, 26, of Oceanside, Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley and Maryam Khajavi, 20, of Pinole.
Pope and Stumpo were arrested Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., as they returned to the United States from Costa Rica. Buddenberg and Khajavi were arrested Friday in Oakland.
Pope, Stumpo and Khajavi were accused of being among a group of protesters who attempted to force their way into a UC Santa Cruz professor's home during a children's birthday party last February. When the professor's husband opened the door, he was hit by an object, authorities say.
Pope, Stumpo and Buddenberg are charged with publishing and distributing the names and addresses of several UC Santa Cruz scientists in July in a flier that read: "animal abusers everywhere beware we know where you live we know where you work we will never back down until you end your abuse."
Soon after, the homes of two researchers on the list were firebombed. Those incidents remain under investigation.
Jim Burns, a UC Santa Cruz spokesman, praised the FBI and the Santa Cruz Police Department for their part in pursuing and arresting the four.
"Their persistence these many months speaks to the seriousness of the threat against our researchers whose work is shedding light on diseases such as cancer and Parkinson's," Burns said.
The FBI alleges that Pope, Stumpo and Buddenberg also were among a group of about 20 activists who harassed a UC Berkeley professor at his home in El Cerrito in October 2007. The group, some wearing bandannas to hide their faces, trespassed in his yard and accused him of being a murderer because of his research.
The FBI accused all four suspects of being among 11 protesters who harassed several UC Berkeley researchers during demonstrations at their homes during the course of a single day in January 2008.
UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said the university in recent years has been plagued by activists harassing researchers at their homes, labs and around campus. Police documented 158 such incidents between August 2007 and December 2008, he said.
"We find that intolerable and abhorrent," Mogulof said. "We hope that the arrest of these suspects will send a clear and powerful signal to extremists who continue to engage in dangerous and illegal actions against university researchers."
The federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act provides for up to five years in prison for interfering with an animal enterprise through harassment, vandalism, criminal trespass, threats or intimidation.
Santa Cruz Police Chief Howard Skerry also praised the arrests.
"This sends a strong message that our community won't tolerate this type of senseless violence," he said. "You have absolutely no right to attack a family in the sanctity of their home."
richard.paddock [at] latimes.com