Portland's Soft Rock

 
 
 
 
International fugitive in the nation's largest eco-terrorism case surrenders at the US-Canadian border
Thursday, November 29, 2012    
Share Email Bookmark
After ten years on the run, federal fugitive Rebecca Rubin will return to Oregon to face arson, conspiracy charges in the ELF/ALF conspiracy case .

39-year-old Canadian citizen Rebecca Jeannette Rubin surrendered to FBI agents at the US-Canadian border in Blaine, Washington Thursday. The US Attorney's office in Portland says Rubin will return to Oregon to face federal charges of arson, using a destructive device and conspiracy in the largest eco-terrorism case in US history. Rubin is charged in Oregon with joining 12 other self-proclaimed members of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (Alf) in 20 acts of arson across five Western states between 1996 and 2001.

The Oregon charges against Rubin include a 1997 arson at the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Horse and Burro facility near Burns and the 1998 attempted arson at the Medford offices of US Forest Service Industries, Incorporated. If convicted on all counts, Rubin could spend 55 years in prison and face $750,000 in fines.

A Colorado indictment charges Rubin with eight counts of arson in the October 1998 fires that destroyed Two Elk Lodge and other buildings in the Vail ski area in Eagle County, Colorado. In California, she faces charges of arson, using a destructive device and conspiracy in the October, 2001 fire at the BLM Litchfield Wild Horse and Burro Corrals near Susanville, California.

Ten other co-defendants have already been prosecuted and sentenced to prison in connection with the five year crime spree. Two additional defendants, Joseph Mahmoud Dibee and Josephine Sunshine Overaker, remain at large as international fugitives.

@