Operation Backfire (FBI) - Convictions and Abscondings

Convictions and Abscondings

In late 2006, a number of self-described ELF members pled guilty to arson and other charges in U.S. federal courts.

On November 11, 2006, Joyanna Zacher, Nathan Block, Daniel McGowan and Jonathan Paul pleaded guilty to several eco-sabotage related charges, as part of a global resolution agreement with prosecutors. Judge Ann Aiken presided over the hearings. The change of pleas from the four defendants resolves all current “Operation Backfire” cases in Oregon.

On December 15, 2006, Chelsea Dawn Gerlach and Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff, pleaded guilty to $20 million worth of arsons committed between 1996 and 2001 by the Eugene-based cell of the ELF known as "The Family". Their fire-bombing of a Vail ski resort resulted in damages totaling $12 million, with the FBI characterizing the ELF as the United States' "top domestic terrorism threat". Gerlach has previously pleaded guilty to 18 counts of arson in other attacks, saying she was motivated by "a deep sense of despair and anger at the deteriorating state of the global environment," but adding that she has "since realized the firebombings did more harm than good." Meyerhoff has renounced ELF and pleaded guilty to 54 counts, but is still under indictment in Michigan, Arizona, Washington, Wyoming and California.

On March 6, 2008, Briana Waters, who was arrested in Operation Backfire for another ELF attack in Washington State, was found guilty of two counts of arson and sentenced later that year to six years in prison.

The FBI alleged that the group was led by William C. Rodgers, who was arrested in December 2005 and committed suicide in jail just before he was to be transferred to Oregon. One other ELF members indicted in the Vail arson, Josephine Sunshine Overaker, has not been apprehended; she is believed to be in Spain. One other indicted co-conspirator not part of the Vail arson, Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, is also believed to be abroad; Dibee is believed to be beyond the reach of the FBI in Syria, which has no diplomatic relations with the United States.

Solondz was captured in China in March 2009. He was deported back to the U.S. to face charges there after his term was completed. Rebecca Jeanette Rubin surrendered to FBI agents at the Canadian border in Blaine, Washington on 29 November 2012.