Six arrests connected to fires

The following people were arrested last week during the U.S. government's sweep of alleged radical environmentalists:

Chelsea D. Gerlach, 28

Arrested in Oregon in connection with destruction of a Bonneville Power Administration transmission tower in Bend, Ore., in 1999. On Friday, she was charged with several counts stemming from a May 21, 2001, fire at a poplar farm in Columbia County, Ore., and a May 19, 1999, arson at a Eugene-area meat plant.

U.S. Attorney's Office says she is a "prime suspect" in a 2001 fire that heavily damaged the University of Washington's Center for Urban Horticulture and a 1998 fire at a ski resort in Vail, Colo.

Gerlach grew up in Eugene and lived in Portland at the time of her arrest. Her family says she is innocent of all charges and has never been to Colorado.

Sarah Harvey, 28

A biology major who has applied to graduate school, she was arrested in Arizona in connection with a 1998 arson at U.S. Forest Industries in Medford, Ore. In the late 1990s, she lived in Eugene, where she attended the University of Oregon and worked for a group that distributed food to the homeless.

William Rodgers, 40

Arrested in Arizona in connection with a 1998 arson at a National Wildlife Research lab in Olympia. On Friday, an FBI agent told a federal court that Rodgers was believed to have been involved in additional arson attacks at the UW horticulture center and the Vail, Colo., ski resort as well as other attacks at facilities in Olympia; Burns, Ore.; and Wyoming.

Public records indicate that he lived in the Eugene area in the mid-1990s. He now runs a bookstore in Arizona.

An engineering student arrested in Virginia who lived in Eugene around 2000, according to public records. He was charged along with Gerlach in connection with arsons at Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie, Ore., and the Superior Lumber Company in Glendale, Ore., both in 2001.

He was also indicted in the toppling of the Bonneville Power Administration transmission tower in Bend. A not-guilty plea was entered for him last week.

Daniel McGowan, 31

Arrested in New York in connection with the arsons at Jefferson Poplar Farms in Clatskanie and the Superior Lumber Company in Glendale.

Formerly a Eugene resident, he worked in a cafe and was involved in activist causes. He has denied any involvement in arsons.

Kevin Tubbs, 36

Arrested in Springfield, Ore., in connection with the June 21, 1998, arson at the Animal and Plant and Health Inspection Services facility in Olympia.

On Friday, he also was charged with involvement in the fires at the Oregon poplar farm and with setting fires later that year that damaged or destroyed more than 30 vehicles at a Eugene Chevrolet dealer. Tubbs is an assistant manager at a department store and once worked for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, according to his mother. Graduated in 1991 with a fine-arts degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

A family member said he will be proven innocent of all charges.

Sources: Public records, court documents, interviews and Associated Press reports.