One defendant turns state’s evidence in eco-terrorism case

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – One of the six people arrested this month on federal charges they were part of an ecoterrorism campaign has agreed to testify against others charged in the case, according to court papers.

A defense motion filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene says Stanislas “Jack” Meyerhoff, 28, a former Eugene resident attending Piedmont Community College in Charlottesville, Va., is one of the unnamed informants the federal government has relied on in the investigation.

Public defender Craig Weinerman named Meyerhoff and another man, Jacob Ferguson, as informants in a motion for the release of Chelsea Gerlach, who is being held without bail.

The motion is to be argued today in U.S. District Court in Eugene.

Gerlach, 28, who grew up in the Eugene area and worked as a disc jockey in Portland, faces trial on indictments that she and Meyerhoff helped topple a high tension power line outside Bend in 1999 and that she served as a lookout while others were setting fire to the Childers Meat Co. plant in Eugene in 2001.

No group took responsibility for toppling the electric tower, but the Animal Liberation Front took credit for the meat plant fire to protest the treatment of livestock.

Authorities have named Gerlach as a suspect in the 1998 arson of a ski resort in Vail, Colo., that caused $12 million in damages. The Earth Liberation Front took credit, saying it was fighting resort expansion into lynx habitat.

Meyerhoff also was indicted on charges he firebombed the office of Superior Lumber Co. in Glendale, now known as Swanson Group, in 2001, as well as offices and a truck shop at the Jefferson Poplar Farm in Clatskanie the same year. Earth Liberation Front took credit for both those.

Weinerman characterized Meyerhoff and Ferguson as “serial arsonists” whose credibility was undermined by the fact that they face life in prison without parole if convicted on charges of being in possession of a firebomb.

He argued that the weakness of the government’s case and Gerlach’s strong ties to the community – her mother lives in Eugene and her father lives in Sweet Home – should qualify her for release on bail.

Weinerman wrote in the motion that following his arrest Dec. 7, Meyerhoff admitted he was involved in the Childers Meat fire and claimed Gerlach also was involved, but could not recall her specific role. He has not been charged in that fire.

Ferguson, who told authorities he also took part in the meat plant fire, characterized Gerlach’s role as a lookout with a hand-held radio, the motion said.

Ferguson has not been charged.