11 charged in ecoterrorism arsons

Millionaire firefighter held
The FBI arrested Paul on Tuesday outside Ashland, Ore., said FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele. Savoie turned herself in to the FBI on Thursday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Fong argued that Paul presented a high flight risk and a danger to society due to the nature of the charges and the fact that he had a trust fund and other assets worth $1.7 million, which would allow him to post a $400,000 bond and still have plenty of cash to flee.

Defense attorney Stu Sugarman countered that Paul has lived openly in southern Oregon for nine years, had a wife and family, and demonstrated in the past that he was willing to surrender to authorities rather than hide.

In 1993, Paul spent five months in jail for contempt of court in Spokane, Wash., for refusing to testify in the investigation of another ALF case, a 1991 raid that caused $100,000 in damages to U.S. Department of Agriculture offices at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. He was released after a judge concluded imprisonment would not persuade him to talk.

Questionable testimony?
Sugarman argued that the only evidence is testimony from people facing lengthy prison terms for their own involvement.

According to an FBI affidavit, an unidentified informant involved in the Cavel West horsemeat packing plant fire told investigators that Paul and an unidentified woman set the blaze using five-gallon plastic buckets filled with a mix of gasoline, diesel oil and soap that were ignited by an electronic timer.

The buckets have been a signature of ELF and ALF fires.

Paul prepared the fuel mix, adding soap shavings so it would form a gel and burn more slowly, the affidavit said. They did a dry-run a week before. The night of the fire, one of the buckets went off unexpectedly, igniting a fireball, and two didn't ignite, according to the affidavit.

Cavel has been criticized by animal-rights groups for slaughtering wild horses rounded up from U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands in the West. The Belgian-owned company never rebuilt the Redmond plant, but continues to operate one in DeKalb, Ill.

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