Grad Student Charged in SUV Arson
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Associated Press


LOS ANGELES — A college student with apparent connections to a radical environmentalist group was charged with firebombing or otherwise vandalizing 125 sport utility vehicles.

Billy Cottrell, a 23-year-old graduate physics student from Pasadena, was indicted for damaging or destroying vehicles at car dealerships and homes in the Los Angeles area last August, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office on Wednesday.
Cottrell, who could face life in prison, has been held without bail since his arrest on March 9. His attorney, Stephen Alexander, said Cottrell was innocent and declined further comment.
A bond hearing was scheduled Wednesday and an arraignment was set for March 29.
According to an FBI affidavit, Cottrell contacted the Los Angeles Times by e-mail using an alias and told the paper he was involved in the firebombings. The California Institute of Technology student signed the e-mails ELF, short for Earth Liberation Front, according to the affidavit. Authorities searched Caltech classrooms and tracked the e-mails to Cottrell.
Investigators say the firebombing spree hit four car dealerships and at least four privately owned vehicles.
A fire set at one dealership destroyed or damaged 72 vehicles, mostly SUVs, and a parts warehouse. "ELF," "Fat, Lazy Americans" and "I (heart) pollution" were painted on the SUVs. Prosecutors estimate the total damage at $2.3 million.
The Earth Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for a string of arsons in Detroit, Philadelphia and San Diego, where a fire last year destroyed a 206-unit apartment complex under construction, doing $50 million worth of damage.

I give an answer.

The racist, fascist, horrible smelly white sock wearing FBI were in your little classroom chasing a felon. That's their job. And they caught him, too, obviously with no help from you, which I'm sure surprised them a lot.
Why don't you do YOUR job and roll another one, just like the other one.

Let's see... they found him by reading the log files tracking him from an email, back to a server, back to a computer, back to a library security system... back to his library card. They were connecting the dots.

They didn't need to monitor classrooms.

They didn't need to have a convoy of local PD cars chasing Josh Connole, who they suspected because he was a tall white guy who did peace vigils, who wasn't good at math, etc.

It took the FBI SIX MONTHS to subpoena and read log files; meanwhile they wasted tens of thousands of dollars chasing down, jailing, and releasing Connole, invading the privacy and seizing the computers of the people at his communal home.

Now... get this... despite the fact that the FBI could have tracked this guy down in a few weeks, if they knew what they were doing on the computer, they went on a foolish wild goose chase against protesters. They took this totally unrelated incident as an opportunity to harrass anti-war activists. It was probably intentional. I bet there were a lot of lazy cops who saw the opportunity to drive around, collect a lot of pay, and give grief to a bunch of activists who they don't like.

jerks

at least the guilty one came forward and took responsiblity for his actions. In the Austin case the kid who posted the Reclaim Guide sat silently while sherman took the rap.