Four animal rights activists connected to incidents targeting University of California biomedical researchers at their homes have been arrested, federal authorities said Friday.
The FBI arrested the four on suspicion of violating the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act for allegedly using force, violence or threats to interfere with animal research.
Members of the San Francisco Joint Terrorism Task Force on Friday arrested Maryam Khajavi, 20, of Pinole, and Joseph Buddenberg, 25, of Berkeley, in Oakland.
Federal agents arrested Nathan Pope, 26, of Oceanside, and Adriana Stumpo, 23, of Long Beach, on Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., as they returned to the US from Costa Rica.
"It is inexcusable and cowardly for these people to resort to terrorizing the families of those with whom they do not agree," said Special Agent Charlene Thornton, head of the FBI's San Francisco field office, in a statement.
Authorities said they did not know whether the four had attorneys.
Investigators accused Pope, Stumpo and Khajavi of being among a group masked with bandanas who tried to break into a UC Santa Cruz breast cancer researcher's home last February.
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When the researcher's husband confronted the group after they tried to force open the front door, he was "hit with a dark, firm object," said Special Agent Lisa Shaffer in a sworn affidavit filed in federal court Thursday.
A lab analysis matched DNA on bandanas seized from the car in which the group fled the house to Khajavi, Pope and Stumpo, Shaffer said.
In another incident, video surveillance connected Pope and Buddenberg to flyers found at a Santa Cruz cafe in late July listing the home addresses and phone numbers of 13 UC Santa Cruz researchers, according to the affidavit.
Separate video footage showed Pope and Stumpo using a computer at a Santa Cruz Kinko's two days earlier to look up information on the researchers, investigators said.
Among the 13 listed in the flyer was the researcher whose husband was assaulted in February, which "caused her to fear she would be attacked again," Shaffer said.
Under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, any effort to interfere with animal research that makes researchers or their families fear for their safety can be punished with up to five years in prison.
Shortly after the flyers were found, the home of a UC Santa Cruz scientist who works with mice was firebombed, and the car of another researcher was torched. The FBI has not connected the four to those attacks.
All four also are accused of participating in a series of roving protests at the homes of several UC Berkeley scientists. During the protests, masked activists called researchers murderers, chalked slogans on sidewalks in front of their homes and in at least one instance trespassed on a professor's property and rang his doorbell. The FBI called the protests "threatening incidents."
Khajavi and Buddenberg have been released on bond pending their next court appearances, said FBI spokeswoman Patti Hansen. Pope and Stumpo will be extradited to California from North Carolina to face charges, authorities said.
