4 charged in 1999 arson

Investigation comes to a close after 8 years; MSU officials react

After more than eight years of investigation, police and MSU officials announced Tuesday the arrests of four suspects in connection with the 1999 arson of Agriculture Hall.

Detroit residents Frank Brian Ambrose, 33, Aren Bernard Burthwick, 27, and Stephanie Lynne Fultz, 27, and Cincinnati resident Marie Jeanette Mason, 46, each face four counts of conspiracy to commit arson, aggravated arson and arson in connection with the Agriculture Hall incident and a Jan. 1, 2000, arson of commercial logging equipment near Mesick, Mich.

The incident at Agriculture Hall caused more than $1 million in damage.

If convicted, the charges against each member of the group carry a minimum penalty of five years and a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.

Officials from MSU police, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan and the FBI were involved in the investigation.

“We certainly hope we’ve sent the message to these folks that time will not deter us,” said Andrew Arena, the FBI special agent in charge of the case.

The indictment states that all four suspects helped plan the arson of Agriculture Hall and that Mason and Ambrose executed it. It also states that all four suspects carried out the Mesick arson.

MSU police Chief Jim Dunlap said officers conducted the investigation across 10 states in search of suspects.

“We’ve been working on it nearly every day for the past eight years,” Dunlap said.

None of the suspects have any prior university affiliation, and none have any prior arrests, Dunlap said.

The arson targeted the Agriculture Biotechnology Support Project, or ABSP, a program that researches the use of genetically modified plants for use in Africa and other developing parts of the world, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said.

Shortly after the arson, an environmental group known as Earth Liberation Front took responsibility for the fire. The group is considered a threat by law enforcement officials because of its past involvement in acts of ecoterrorism.

The fire was started in the office of the ABSP director Catherine Ives and caused damage to the third and fourth floors of the northeast wing of Agriculture Hall.

Following the arson, the ABSP offices and some neighboring offices were relocated while repairs were made. It took about a year for the damages to be completely repaired, Dunlap said.

The arson caused more than $1 million in damage to equipment and facilities, but Simon said the real damage was done to the educational climate for university researchers.

“It was more than the destruction of property, it was an assault on the core value of free and open inquiry at a research university,” Simon said.

Eric Crawford, a professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, had an office on the second floor of Agriculture Hall during the arson.

Luckily, Crawford said, fellow professor David Schweikhardt was in his office and discovered the fire before it grew larger.

“I’m guessing that whoever set the fire wasn’t planning on having anybody around,” Crawford said.

“Had he not noticed the fire when he left, it could have burned the whole building.”

Crawford said the fire, which forced about 30 people to move out of their damaged offices, disrupted the work of everyone in that part of the building.

“It was a major disaster that affected units in our department as well as the Institute of International Agriculture,” he said.

The 1999 attack on Agriculture Hall was not the first time arsonists have targeted a university building.

In 1992, offices in Anthony Hall and research facilities on south campus were firebombed, resulting in another $1.2 million loss. The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility.

Published on Tuesday, March 11, 2008

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