Four Suspects Named In 1999 MSU Arson

East Lansing, MI (AHN) - Authorities have named four members of an extremist environmental group they suspect were responsible for a 1999 fire at Michigan State University.

Two men and one woman from Detroit, and another woman from Ohio, were charged with arson for the fire that broke out at the campus. Authorities investigating the fire, which the Earth Liberation Front claimed responsibility for, said that the suspects were charged with four counts of conspiracy to commit arson, aggravated arson and arson in connection with the fire.

According to ABC News, the ELF alerted the media after the fire was set on December 31, 1999, with the group saying that they were responsible for the incident that caused $1 million in damages. The fire destroyed the fourth floor of the university's Agricultural Hall.

Two of the suspects, Marie Mason and Frank Ambrose, broke into the building and poured gasoline on files and computers, according to the police, and then setting them on fire. The ELF reportedly set the building on fire for believing the campus was doing experiments on genetic engineering of crops.

The State News reported that an activist-caused fire had also broken out at the office of animal science researcher Richard Aulerich and Karen Chou in 1992. The fire, believed to have been started by the Animal Liberation Front, caused an estimated $1.2 million.