February 2005: Environmental Activist Arrested on Arson-Related Charges

Environmental activist Ryan Daniel Lewis is arrested on arson-related charges for helping set five incendiary devices in an office building under construction in Auburn, California. All five devices failed to ignite. Lewis admits transporting “components of the incendiary devices knowing that they would be used to commit arson,” according to the criminal complaint. Lewis also faces charges for a similar attempt in Lincoln, California (see March 2005), and a successful firebombing of a Sutter Creek, California, apartment complex. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF—see 1997) claimed responsibility for the Auburn and Lincoln firebombings. [Anti-Defamation League, 2005]