Post by Ardbeg... innit on Mar 28, 2009 9:22:04 GMT -6
I havnt mentioned this here for a very long time, simply because there was nothing to update on. In fact I stumbled on this before Ann, and she is usually much more informed on happenings related to the University.
A few weeks after 9/11 happened, an ecoterrorist planted two bombs on campus here, one of which was very near Ann's office, like the next office over. A very astute campus security officer noticed the device, called the State Police and both bombs were defused.
That was 7+ years ago, and nothing was heard of regarding the investigation. We found out the rest of the story this week...
A few weeks after 9/11 happened, an ecoterrorist planted two bombs on campus here, one of which was very near Ann's office, like the next office over. A very astute campus security officer noticed the device, called the State Police and both bombs were defused.
That was 7+ years ago, and nothing was heard of regarding the investigation. We found out the rest of the story this week...
Tech bomber sentenced to 3 years
Ann's office was immediately to the left of this photo
The man who tried to bomb a pair of buildings at Michigan Technological University will spend the next three years in federal prison.
Ian Jacob Wallace, 27, of East Setauket, N.Y., was sentenced Monday in federal court in Marquette to three years in a minimum security prison for attempting to firebomb two forestry buildings at Michigan Tech in 2001.
"I'm taking three years out of your life," Judge Robert Holmes Bell said Monday during sentencing. "You're going to emerge from this experience stronger than you're now."
Wallace pleaded guilty to the charges in October.
Now a graduate student in anthropology at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., Wallace was a member of the Earth Liberation Front, known as ELF, when he attempted to firebomb U.S. Forest Service property on MTU's campus. His involvement began in September 1999 in Wisconsin and apparently ended in 2002 in Minnesota, Bell said in court.
Bell said Wallace built the incendiary devices at home in Wisconsin and drove them up to MTU with a friend. He said Wallace and his friend placed the devices after midnight outside the buildings and turned on the detonators.
"That took some time to think through," Bell said.
He said the bombs were discovered at 3 a.m., before they ignited.
Previously Wallace said the goal was to destroy tree research and intimidate the public.
In his sentencing, Bell said Wallace "didn't intend to hurt anybody, (but) this is a serious offense."
Wallace faced up to 10 years in prison, but received a lighter sentence largely because he helped in solving a Rhinelander, Wis. crime in which 500 research trees were destroyed or badly damaged in ELF's name in 2000, according to Bell.
The Associated Press reported details of U.S. District Attorney Hagen Frank's filing showing how authorities captured Wallace years later. The FBI contacted him in January 2007 after a tip in an ELF-related case in Oregon. Three months later, Wallace admitted the Michigan Tech crimes and provided critical information about the attack on trees in Wisconsin, which caused $1 million in damage.
Three people subsequently were indicted and pleaded guilty in federal court in Wisconsin, Frank said.
Besides the Michigan Tech incident, Wallace has acknowledged vandalizing vehicles at a Forest Service research station at the University of Minnesota in April 2000, according to Associated Press reports. He also has taken responsibility for an arson at a construction site at the university in January 2002. The loss was $630,000.
"I'm painfully aware of what I did," an emotional Wallace said in court Monday. "The shame that I feel is with me at all times. I'm very, very sorry."
Wallace said at the time of his crimes he was "broken by depression, drugs and alcohol. I hated myself. In this damaged mental state I was taken advantage of."
He added that in the past eight years, he has pulled himself together, pursuing a doctorate degree and getting engaged.
"I have been consumed by shame for what I have done," he said. "My greatest blessing is that no one got hurt."
Wallace's attorney, Edward Panzer of New York, said that Wallace has done everything he can to rectify what he did when he was younger.
Bell ordered Wallace's sentence to begin June 1. Until then, Wallace continues to be free on bail. Bell also said he will make sure that Wallace has access to education while serving his sentence.
Restitution of $1.6 million - to pay for the damages incurred in the attacks - will be shared by all liable parties, including Wallace.
Ann's office was immediately to the left of this photo
The man who tried to bomb a pair of buildings at Michigan Technological University will spend the next three years in federal prison.
Ian Jacob Wallace, 27, of East Setauket, N.Y., was sentenced Monday in federal court in Marquette to three years in a minimum security prison for attempting to firebomb two forestry buildings at Michigan Tech in 2001.
"I'm taking three years out of your life," Judge Robert Holmes Bell said Monday during sentencing. "You're going to emerge from this experience stronger than you're now."
Wallace pleaded guilty to the charges in October.
Now a graduate student in anthropology at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y., Wallace was a member of the Earth Liberation Front, known as ELF, when he attempted to firebomb U.S. Forest Service property on MTU's campus. His involvement began in September 1999 in Wisconsin and apparently ended in 2002 in Minnesota, Bell said in court.
Bell said Wallace built the incendiary devices at home in Wisconsin and drove them up to MTU with a friend. He said Wallace and his friend placed the devices after midnight outside the buildings and turned on the detonators.
"That took some time to think through," Bell said.
He said the bombs were discovered at 3 a.m., before they ignited.
Previously Wallace said the goal was to destroy tree research and intimidate the public.
In his sentencing, Bell said Wallace "didn't intend to hurt anybody, (but) this is a serious offense."
Wallace faced up to 10 years in prison, but received a lighter sentence largely because he helped in solving a Rhinelander, Wis. crime in which 500 research trees were destroyed or badly damaged in ELF's name in 2000, according to Bell.
The Associated Press reported details of U.S. District Attorney Hagen Frank's filing showing how authorities captured Wallace years later. The FBI contacted him in January 2007 after a tip in an ELF-related case in Oregon. Three months later, Wallace admitted the Michigan Tech crimes and provided critical information about the attack on trees in Wisconsin, which caused $1 million in damage.
Three people subsequently were indicted and pleaded guilty in federal court in Wisconsin, Frank said.
Besides the Michigan Tech incident, Wallace has acknowledged vandalizing vehicles at a Forest Service research station at the University of Minnesota in April 2000, according to Associated Press reports. He also has taken responsibility for an arson at a construction site at the university in January 2002. The loss was $630,000.
"I'm painfully aware of what I did," an emotional Wallace said in court Monday. "The shame that I feel is with me at all times. I'm very, very sorry."
Wallace said at the time of his crimes he was "broken by depression, drugs and alcohol. I hated myself. In this damaged mental state I was taken advantage of."
He added that in the past eight years, he has pulled himself together, pursuing a doctorate degree and getting engaged.
"I have been consumed by shame for what I have done," he said. "My greatest blessing is that no one got hurt."
Wallace's attorney, Edward Panzer of New York, said that Wallace has done everything he can to rectify what he did when he was younger.
Bell ordered Wallace's sentence to begin June 1. Until then, Wallace continues to be free on bail. Bell also said he will make sure that Wallace has access to education while serving his sentence.
Restitution of $1.6 million - to pay for the damages incurred in the attacks - will be shared by all liable parties, including Wallace.
