Press Release
Contact:
HAGEN W. FRANK
ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY
PHONE: (616) 456-2404
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY ECO-TERRORIST GETS 21 YEARS AND 10 MONTHS
THURSDAY, FEB. 5, 2009 -
LANSING, Michigan – Marie Jeanette Mason , 47, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney to serve 21 years and 10 months in Federal prison for her role in the December 31, 1999, arson of Agriculture Hall on Michigan State University’s (MSU) main campus in East Lansing, Michigan, as well as for a January 1, 2000, arson of commercial lumbering equipment near Mesick, Michigan, U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis announced. Mason, who committed the arsons on behalf of the radical environmental group known as the “Earth Liberation Front” or “ELF,” was also ordered to pay over $4 million in restitution to MSU and to victims of other similar acts of arson in Eastern Michigan and Southern Indiana that she participated in between 1999 and 2003. Finally, Chief Judge Maloney ordered that Mason remain on Supervised Release for life after she is released by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
In targeting Agriculture Hall, Mason and her criminal associates had sought to destroy or disrupt federally-funded research that was being conducted into genetic modification of crops for the purpose of feeding Third World populations. In the years preceding the arson, MSU researchers had received approximately $20 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (US AID). In the view of the ELF, such genetic modification was harmful to the natural environment.
In imposing the sentence, Chief Judge Maloney observed that “we can't let ideas and dialogue be beat by fear and intimidation.”
Commenting on the sentences, Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge , FBI Detroit Division, stated: “Investigating and preventing criminal environmental extremism is one of the FBI’s highest domestic terrorism priorities. The FBI will not tolerate any group that terrorizes the American people, no matter its intentions or objectives. The FBI is committed to working with our partners to disrupt and dismantle these movements, to protect our fellow citizens, and to bring to justice those who commit crime and terrorism in the name of environmental issues.” U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis added: “In the United States, one does not have to bully people to make a point or to effect change, but that is what the ELF is all about, and it is at root all that they are about: violence, arrogance, and self-righteousness. It takes time and effort to effect change legally, because other people and other institutions may have different priorities and different viewpoints. Rather than engaging those people and institutions with reason in broad daylight, ELF chooses to engage them with fire and violence in the middle of the night.”
Chief Judge Maloney also sentenced two other co-defendants of Mason’s in connection with the MSU arson, although on much less serious charges that they helped to cover up the fact that Mason and co-defendant Frank B. Ambrose had committed the arson. Aren Bernard Burthwick, 28, was sentenced to 14 months incarceration, one year supervised release and a $2,000 fine; and Stephanie Lynn Fultz, 28, was sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours of community service, both of Detroit, Michigan.
Previously, on October 20, 2008, Chief Judge Maloney sentenced Frank Ambrose to serve nine years in prison, to pay restitution of over $4 million to MSU and victims of other acts of arson and property destruction, and to serve a lifetime term of Supervised Release after his release from prison. In imposing that sentence, the Chief Judge took into account Ambrose’s substantial assistance to the FBI in its investigation of the MSU arson and numerous other acts of domestic terrorism committed by criminal environmental extremists.
The case was investigated by the FBI; the MSU Police Department; and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagen W. Frank.
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