Arson suspect, activist shared apartment

At the time of her arrest, a suspect in the 2001 arson at the University of Washington's horticultural center shared a Portland apartment with a Canadian activist twice arrested in connection with acts of eco-sabotage, according to federal prosecutors.

Darren Thurston, described by prosecutors as the boyfriend of arson suspect Chelsea D. Gerlach, served prison time in the early 1990s for setting fire to trucks transporting fish and releasing 29 cats from a University of Alberta research lab, according to The Vancouver Sun newspaper. He was also charged in 1998 with mailing razor blades to hunters.

The 1998 charges were dropped when Canadian authorities claimed releasing information to the defense would undermine another international investigation.

Thurston was picked up Dec. 7 — the same day Gerlach was arrested — and is being held in Tacoma on immigration issues. David Barbarash, former spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front who was arrested with Thurston in 1998 and had his charges dropped for the same reason, said Wednesday that Thurston has "not been charged with anything, and he has not been linked to recent actions."

Barbarash said he did not know Gerlach, who goes by the name "Country Girl," and whom prosecutors last week charged with the 1999 firebombing of an Oregon meatpacking company and the toppling of a high-tension line seven months later. Prosecutors also consider her a suspect in a 1998 arson at a Vail, Colo., ski resort that caused $12 million damage. Gerlach's family dismissed all accusations as "ludicrous."

The Earth Liberation Front claimed credit for the May 21, 2001, fire at the UW Center for Urban Horticulture, which damaged the offices of eight professors and caused more than $1.5 million in damage.

Gerlach's arrest was one of a half-dozen in several states last week in connection with acts of eco-sabotage across the Northwest, accusations that have angered and surprised friends and relatives of the suspects.

Angelina Hawkins, mother of suspect Kevin Tubbs, said he is a store assistant manager who loves animals and "was arrested without any warning, any reason, and he still doesn't know why." He's charged in a 1998 Olympia arson.

Martin R. Stolar, attorney for suspect Daniel McGowan, said he's not sure his client even knows all the other suspects and complained the government was "targeting someone who was a political activist and trying to portray him as a terrorist." McGowan is charged in 1998 arson at an Oregon poplar farm.

Humboldt State University professor Patricia Siering, who wrote suspect Sarah Harvey a recommendation letter for medical school, said Harvey was a great student interested in helping the underprivileged — not a criminal. Harvey is charged in a 1998 arson in Oregon. "I have the utmost respect for her," Siering said.

Staff reporter Hal Bernton contributed to this report.