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Teen gets prison sentence for environmental sabotage
By SCOTT HARPER
RICHMOND Ñ Decrying environmental sabotage as Òextremely troublingÓ and Òarrogant,Ó a federal judge Monday sentenced a member of the radical Earth Liberation Front to 42 months in prison for a 2002 vandalism spree in greater Richmond that damaged new homes, SUVs, construction equipment and fast-food restaurants.
Aaron Labe Linas , 19 , apologized in court for the property attacks Ð called Òdirect actionsÓ by ELF, an underground environmental group considered a domestic terrorist organization by the FBI Ð and said he accepted his punishment.
ÒI should not be here today,Ó said Linas, dressed in a dark suit, as his friends and family dabbed tears from their eyes at the back of the courtroom. ÒI should be at school, studying.Ó
Linas is the first of three former students at Douglas S. Freeman High School in Henrico County to be sentenced for conspiring to cause more than $200,000 in damage to vehicles and structures that ELF views as contributing to greed and environmental ruin. It is the first time in Virginia that such a case has come to trial.
Co-defendants John Wade Burton, 19 , and Adam Virden Blackwell, 20 , are expected to receive similar federal prison terms when sentenced Wednesday and later this month.
The trioÕs exploits often were carried out with kerosene, gasoline, sugar, axes, glass-defacing etching cream and threatening notes. Among the late-night actions against new subdivisions, McDonaldÕs restaurants and Ford dealerships, they also attempted to blow up a crane at Short Pump Town Center Mall in September 2002 , when the 120-store complex was under construction in suburban Henrico County.
Matt Geary and Jeffrey Galston , attorneys for Linas, described their young client as bright, caring, passionate and determined. He was a Boy Scout, a camp counselor and had volunteered at a local nursing home.
He also was active in his schoolÕs Friends of the Earth club but soon became disillusioned by what he says he saw as corporate power and development interests constantly bowling over environmentalists trying to preserve nature.
It was then he turned to ELF, which he found on the Internet.
ÒUnfortunately,Ó Geary said, Òhe allowed his passions for the environment É to take him down the wrong path, to go too far.Ó U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer said the case troubled him.
He said Linas, who came from a comfortable middle-class background in suburban Richmond, had Òprobably never missed a meal É had no reason to be angry at the world.Ó
Yet, Spencer said, Linas and his two fellow activists decided they knew what was best for the environment and society and took action against people and property that they deemed wrong.
Spencer called this thinking Òan arrogance that is deep and cutting,Ó and said it represents Òthe seed of destructionÓ in a free society.
Linas could have faced a harsher penalty, mostly because he destroyed evidence after discovering the FBI was on his trail. Prosecutors dropped any reference to the crime being an act of terrorism in exchange for Linas, Wade and Blackwell signing a plea agreement and cooperating with authorities.
Since then, Linas has been attending junior college and working a construction job. ÒYeah, construction; isnÕt that ironic?Ó Geary said.
Brian R. Hood , assistant U.S. attorney, said he might file papers that could lessen the 42-month prison stay, but he described the environmental vandalism as Òserious, violent felonies.Ó
Reach Scott Harper at 446-2340 or at scott.harper@pilotonline.com
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