http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20 ... 966950.htm
A radical environmental group is believed to be responsible for a recent vandalism spree that has damaged more than 25 sport utility vehicles and construction sites in central Virginia, according to police.
The Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, is known nationwide for using destructive methods to draw attention to its political ideology. The group has claimed responsibility for 35 acts of vandalism since 1996, including arson and the destruction of homes, offices, crops, logging equipment and SUVs. Members say they have done more than $30 million in damages.
However, if the group is responsible for the estimated $45,000 worth of damage in at least four incidents in Henrico and Goochland counties over the past five weeks, it would be its deepest foray into the Southeast.
Most of their activity during the past six years has focused on the Western United States.
"We definitely feel like it's the ELF, based on the identifiers that were left on notes," said Sgt. Tom Shumate, Henrico Police Department spokesman.
In an e-mail to The Washington Times, the group declined to claim responsibility for the recent vandalism in Virginia but said it was "consistent with actions done by ELF members."
No arrests had been made.
According to the ELF Web site, the group wants to "inflict economic damage on those profiting from the destruction and exploitation of the natural environment." The site also states that members "take all necessary precautions" against harming humans and animals.
Police became aware of the problem in the area Sept. 28 when 25 Ford and Mercury SUVs at an Henrico County car dealership were permanently damaged with glass-etching cream. One vehicle had the word "ELF" sprayed on it, said Sgt. Shumate. The damage was estimated at $25,000.
Also that morning, vandals used the cream to spray the word "ELF" on the windows of one Burger King and two McDonald's restaurants in Henrico County.
On Oct. 6, two vehicles in residential areas were severely damaged by vandals using an ax. They caused about $9,000 worth of damage to a 1996 Toyota SUV and about $5,000 to a 1995 Ford SUV. Notes at the crime scenes stated ELF members were responsible.
In Goochland County, about two months ago, vandals opposed to an upscale neighborhood burned a house under construction and damaged construction equipment, Goochland Sheriff James Agnew told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
The FBI is working with Henrico and Goochland county police to investigate the incidents, said Lawrence Barry, spokesman for the FBI's Richmond office.
ELF has roots in a group known as Earth First! and in 1992 began ecoterrorism in Oregon.
In 1998, an ELF fire at a ski resort in Colorado caused $12 million in damage. ELF has also claimed responsibility for an April 2000 fire at a Eugene, Ore., auto dealership that destroyed 30 SUVs.
Several ELF members, including four New York teenagers and one Indiana man, have been arrested since 2001. But authorities have had difficulty apprehending other "elves," who operate in cells independent of hierarchy or leadership.
Vandals target SUVs in Virginia
SUV's torched in Pennsylvania's latest eco-terrorism
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- In the latest in a string of vandalism carried out in the name of the Earth Liberation Front, members of the radical environmental group are claiming responsibility for a fire at a Pennsylvania auto dealership.
A posting on the group's Web site said the "attack" targeted SUVs in a fight "to remove the profit motive from the killing of the natural environment."
Jugs of gasoline were set ablaze under three vehicles, engulfing them and a nearby car in flames Wednesday at a dealership in Girard, about 110 miles north of Pittsburgh, FBI Special Agent Bob Rudge said. Three other vehicles also had jugs of gasoline set under them but failed to ignite.
"I have no reason to doubt that it's an individual who committed the acts on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front," Rudge said.
The FBI considers the Earth Liberation Front one of the nation's most prolific domestic terrorist organizations. It is thought to be responsible for the 1998 torching of a ski resort in Vail, Colo., an arson that caused $12 million in damage and is considered the most destructive act of eco-terrorism in U.S. history.
ELF is loosely organized. Anyone who carries out an action under the group's guidelines and claims responsibility as part of the organization is considered a member. Over the past year, its name has been attached to a string of vandalism in Pennsylvania.
Last month, the group's Web site said ELF members and cells from the Animal Liberation Front set a Nov. 26 fire at a mink farm in Erie. The fire destroyed a barn, but no animals or people were harmed.
The group also claimed responsibility for an Aug. 11 fire at an unoccupied forest research station near Warren and the torching in March of a construction crane at a bridge work site in Erie, Rudge said.
ELF's claims of responsibility typically come through its Web site, where managers say they serve only as a media conduit for the group. A manager who did not provide an identity said in an e-mail that the communique about Wednesday's fire came in anonymously, as do all reports of ELF attacks.
Rudge said that communique, posted on the Web site, appeared to be authentic because it included information that hadn't been made public.
New vehicles are shown after being discovered burned New Year's Day, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2003, at at Bob Ferrando Ford Lincoln Mercury in Girard, Pa. The radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front, claimed responsibility for a fire that destroyed four vehicles at the auto dealership in northwestern Pennsylvania this week, continuing a string of fires in the region set in the name of the organization over the past year.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- In the latest in a string of vandalism carried out in the name of the Earth Liberation Front, members of the radical environmental group are claiming responsibility for a fire at a Pennsylvania auto dealership.
A posting on the group's Web site said the "attack" targeted SUVs in a fight "to remove the profit motive from the killing of the natural environment."
Jugs of gasoline were set ablaze under three vehicles, engulfing them and a nearby car in flames Wednesday at a dealership in Girard, about 110 miles north of Pittsburgh, FBI Special Agent Bob Rudge said. Three other vehicles also had jugs of gasoline set under them but failed to ignite.
"I have no reason to doubt that it's an individual who committed the acts on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front," Rudge said.
The FBI considers the Earth Liberation Front one of the nation's most prolific domestic terrorist organizations. It is thought to be responsible for the 1998 torching of a ski resort in Vail, Colo., an arson that caused $12 million in damage and is considered the most destructive act of eco-terrorism in U.S. history.
ELF is loosely organized. Anyone who carries out an action under the group's guidelines and claims responsibility as part of the organization is considered a member. Over the past year, its name has been attached to a string of vandalism in Pennsylvania.
Last month, the group's Web site said ELF members and cells from the Animal Liberation Front set a Nov. 26 fire at a mink farm in Erie. The fire destroyed a barn, but no animals or people were harmed.
The group also claimed responsibility for an Aug. 11 fire at an unoccupied forest research station near Warren and the torching in March of a construction crane at a bridge work site in Erie, Rudge said.
ELF's claims of responsibility typically come through its Web site, where managers say they serve only as a media conduit for the group. A manager who did not provide an identity said in an e-mail that the communique about Wednesday's fire came in anonymously, as do all reports of ELF attacks.
Rudge said that communique, posted on the Web site, appeared to be authentic because it included information that hadn't been made public.
New vehicles are shown after being discovered burned New Year's Day, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2003, at at Bob Ferrando Ford Lincoln Mercury in Girard, Pa. The radical environmental group Earth Liberation Front, claimed responsibility for a fire that destroyed four vehicles at the auto dealership in northwestern Pennsylvania this week, continuing a string of fires in the region set in the name of the organization over the past year.
they better not try that around here 
how do people actually think that will make any difference -
just a bunch of firebugs looking for an excuse - when people burned downtown detroit on halloween i guess that was a protest against their environment
how do people actually think that will make any difference -
just a bunch of firebugs looking for an excuse - when people burned downtown detroit on halloween i guess that was a protest against their environment
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true...but then there are less SUV's driving around at 90mph while cutting off other drivers. 
hehehe
i understand SUV's and their purpose...too bad 99.99934542323% of the owners don't use them for "legitimate" purposes...other than to have something really BIG.
of course, for safety, i would like my family/friends to own them...i just dislike everyone else in them. mwuahahha.
hehehei understand SUV's and their purpose...too bad 99.99934542323% of the owners don't use them for "legitimate" purposes...other than to have something really BIG.
of course, for safety, i would like my family/friends to own them...i just dislike everyone else in them. mwuahahha.