Oregon Public Broadcasting

The environmental activist known as ‘Tre Arrow’ pleaded not-guilty Monday, to 14 counts of arson, malicious damage and conspiracy.  Kristian Foden-Vencil was in court for his plea -- thanks for coming in.

KRISTIAN: Glad to be here

BETH: A lot of listeners may remember ‘Tre Arrow’ from the time when he spent 11 days living on the nine-inch window ledge of the Forest Service regional headquarters in Portland. That was back in the summer of 2000. But the charges he's facing now don't pertain to that.

KRISTIAN: Right -- the current federal indictment alleges Arrow got together with students Jacob Sherman, Jeremy Rosenbloom and Angela Cesario. Their alleged aim was to burn and destroy any property used to log national forests.

Prosecutors say that in April 2001, Arrow went to Ross Island Sand and Gravel in Portland with four plastic containers filled with gasoline and time-delay ignition devices. They say he then set three trucks on fire.

About a month later, after deciding against fire bombing a U.S. Forest Service office in Estacada – because it had a security system – the indictment also alleges  Arrow went to Schoppert Logging in Eagle Creek and set light to three more trucks and a Caterpillar loader.

Sherman, Rosenbloom and Cesario pled guilty to arson charges steming from the two crimes and have served their 41-month sentences.

BETH: Does that mean Arrow is facing a similar sentence?

KRISTIAN: Federal prosecutor, Stephen Peifer, won’t talk about a sentence. But in a press release, the Department of Justice lays out the maximum sentence for each of the 14 charges against him. It adds up to 90 years or life.

BETH:  But he's already been in jail in Canada -- how does that figure in?

KRISTIAN: Yes, he has also been in jail for the last four years. 

When Arrow learned that he was a suspect in the arson attacks, he traveled to Canada, fearing he says, that he wouldn’t recieve a fair trail.

In 2004, he was picked up for shoplifting in Victoria, BC and has been in jail fighting extradition ever since.

Interestingly enough, Arrow decided not to take his final avenue of appeal -- to the Supreme Court of Canada. His sister and spokeswoman, Shawna Scarppiti, says he decided instead that it was time to fight for his freedom in Portland.

Shawna Scarpitti: “He recognized the political climate has changed a bit in the states from the early 2000s. And I think that he recognized the importance of assisting his team, who’s ready to help him here. Meaning his legal team.”

While I had Scarpitti on the phone, I asked her about the testimony of Sherman, Rosenbloom and Cesario, which is expected to be particularly damning to Arrow’s case.

Shawna Scarpitti: “They lowered their own sentences by numerous decades in order to turn state’s evidence. To say that my brother did something that he didn’t do in order to save their own skins. In fact a reporter asked me yesterday that 'oh: your brother went to PSU with those kids huh?' And that is so far from the truth. I never even heard of him associating with those names or those people who did say that he taught them to do what they did.”

Speaking after today’s arraignment, Arrow’s attorney Paul Loney, struck a similar tone.

Paul Loney: “He didn’t do it. It’s as simple as that. Other people made up stories of course to get very good deals. They were facing long prison terms.”

BETH: So what now?

KRISTIAN: Well the arraignment is really the first step of the legal system. And since Arrow has been overseas until now, his attorneys have only just received key paperwork in the case. A trial has been scheduled for May 6th.

I also think it’s worth mentioning, just because of timing, that four multi-million dollar houses went up in flames last night at a ‘Street of Dreams’ development in Snohomish County, Washington. A written note, left at the scene, seems to indicate ‘The Earth Liberation Front’ may have been involved.  That's the underground group Tre Arrow allegedly supported at the time of the crimes he's charged with.

BETH: Thank you Kristian.

KRISTIAN: Thank you.