Falsely Accused "Eco-Terrorist" Settles With FBI For $100,000 - Reuters

LOS ANGELES - The FBI has agreed to pay $100,000 to an environmentalist who sued the agency after he was wrongly arrested in 2003 for fire-bombing or vandalizing 125 sports utility vehicles in the Los Angeles area, attorneys for both sides said on Tuesday.


Josh Connole, 27, was freed and exonerated after four days in jail and a raid on his home by 50 investigators. "The whole thing was kind of buffoonery (by the FBI)," said Connole's attorney John Burton. Burton said that attorneys for both sides had also agreed that the FBI would send Connole a written apology but that officials at the agency were objecting to the letter.

William Cottrell, 23, an environmental activist who wrote to a newspaper claiming responsibility for the attacks and mocking authorities for arresting the wrong man, was ultimately convicted and sent to prison.

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Burton said the FBI quickly focused on a cooperative that Connole belonged to and decided that he resembled a suspect seen on a surveillance tape. "So they immediately started following him around and then when they arrested him they said, 'You've got some red paint on your pants and we think it matches (the paint used in the attacks)," Burton said. "So they took his pants and flew them back to FBI headquarters for analysis, where it turned out to be catsup." In the meantime, Burton said, Connole spent four days in jail, often chained to the floor and repeatedly urged by FBI agents to confess.

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http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/33492/story.htm

amount.... :)

...that we don't torture. I mean we don't torture Americans. I mean we don't...nevermind...

This just appears to be a large act of vandalism.

Just because someone spray paints ELF it rises to the level of terroism?

What happens if the gang bangers and taggers start painting 'Al-Queda in Compton'?

As the environment continues to deteriorate, particularly with the mad abandon of the bu$hista and their attack dog Pombo, acts of so-called ecoterrorism will undoubtably increase as desperation pushes people over the edge. That Patriot Act will sure come in handy.:sarcasm: