Fugitive environmentalist ordered back to Oregon to face charges

Fugitive environmentalist ordered back to Oregon to face charges

Tre Arrow is pictured in this file photo.

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By Associated Press

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - An appeals court has decided to send environmental radical Tre Arrow, one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, back to Oregon to face charges related to the firebombing of logging and cement trucks in 2001.

A British Columbia Court of Appeal last week found that evidence against Arrow would be enough to support a guilty verdict in Canada. However, Arrow could appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In May 2006, then-Justice Minister Vic Toews ordered Arrow's deportation from Canada to face charges of conspiring to commit arson.

Prosecutor Rosellina Datillo has said evidence from the U.S. attorney in Oregon indicated Arrow was among four conspirators involved in bombings of a gravel company and a logging company in the Portland area between April and June of 2001.

Arrow, born Michael Scarpitti, contended that guilty pleas in the U.S. by his accused co-conspirators were made because of plea agreements, and were thus unreliable.

But the Court of Appeal last Friday disagreed.

"On the material before us, I am unable to see an air of reality to the allegations that the alleged co-conspirators falsely implicated Mr. Arrow in order to obtain plea agreements," Chief Justice Lance Finch wrote in the unanimous decision.

Arrow was arrested in Victoria, British Columbia, in March 2004 on charges of shoplifting, assault and obstructing a police officer.

Arrow had fled to Canada on claims of refugee status, alleging he would face persecution in the U.S. for his political views, but was deemed inadmissible into Canada on those grounds because of past criminal charges.

The FBI claims that Arrow is associated with the Earth Liberation Front, a group that has claimed responsibility for dozens of acts of destruction over the past few years.

Federal agents say he was involved in an arson attack that blew up three trucks at the Ross Island Gravel Company and an attack on seven vehicles at a Mount Hood timber company.

During his extradition hearing, Arrow asked that the Canadian government seek assurances that he would be provided a raw vegan diet while in custody in the United States. The appeal court said Oregon has advised that if Arrow is surrendered, he will be provided with vegan meals. 

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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