MSU Arsonists Charged

Indictment alleges the arsons were committed on behalf of "Earth Liberation Front" MICHIGAN-On the grounds of Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Michigan, United States Attorney Charles R. Gross; Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena; MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon; and MSU Police Department Chief James H. Dunlap, announced the unsealing of a four-count felony Indictment charging four defendants with conspiracy to commit arson, aggravated arson, and arson in connection with the December 31, 1999, arson of Agriculture Hall on the main campus of MSU and the January 1, 2000, arson of commercial logging equipment near Mesick, Michigan. The defendants are Marie Jeanette Mason, 46, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Frank Brian Ambrose, 33, of Detroit, Michigan; Aren Bernard Burthwick, 27, of Detroit, Michigan; and Stephanie Lynne Fultz, 27, of Detroit, Michigan. According to the Indictment, the four conspired to commit the MSU arson in order to destroy federally-funded plant genetic research being conducted by university employees, and Mason and Ambrose then carried out the arson. The Indictment alleges that the four also conspired to destroy commercial logging equipment in order to sabotage lumbering activity, and that all four Defendants then carried out the arson. The Indictment alleges that both actions were committed on behalf of the "Earth Liberation Front" (ELF), a loosely-organized movement of environmental extremists with a history of destroying property, often by arson, in order to intimidate and coerce communities, businesses, and governments into abandoning activities that ELF adherents consider harmful to the environment. The charges in an Indictment are only allegations of criminal conduct, and the Defendants are presumed innocent until their guilt is established in court by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.