Two self-confessed members of the Earth Liberation Front accused of setting a string of fires in the West, including one that destroyed a University of Washington horticulture center in 2001, have pleaded guilty. The two 29-year-olds, Chelsea Gerlach and Stanislaus Meyerhoff, entered guilty pleas on Friday in the U.S. District Court in Eugene, Ore., The Seattle Times reported.
The two did not specifically admit to torching the Washington lab. But prosecutors said their guilty pleas implicated them in that crime as well as 14 other arsons committed by as many as 14 members of the ELF, an extremist environmental group, from 1996 to 2001. Four co-defendants also pleaded guilty last week, and other co-defendants await trial or are fugitives. Ms. Gerlach and Mr. Meyerhoff were the only ones in the group to be accused of the university fire (The Chronicle, January 23).
The fires together caused $20-million in damage, but no injuries, in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. Ms. Gerlach and Mr. Meyerhoff also agreed to plead guilty to setting fire to a ski resort in Vail, Colo., in 1998, an act that was termed the largest single eco-terrorism attack in the United States.
Under their plea agreements, she faces a prison term of 10 years, and he faces one of 15 years, when they are sentenced in December. Both apologized for their actions.
