Tucson activist arrested : AZ IMC

By Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 23, 2006
Federal agents arrested a radical environmentalist yesterday who practically dared prosecutors to charge him over a speech he gave in Hillcrest as a University City housing complex smoldered from an arson 2½ years ago.
Rodney Coronado, 39, of Tucson was indicted in San Diego on charges of demonstrating how to make a destructive device with the intent that the information be used to commit arson.
Coronado is a national leader for the Earth Liberation Front, said Daniel Dzwilewski, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Diego office.
The group, known as ELF, has claimed responsibility for more than 1,000 acts of sabotage and destruction – including the $50 million University City blaze – and is No. 1 on the FBI's list of domestic terrorism organizations, he said.
Coronado, who is not charged with setting the fire, is scheduled to be arraigned today in Tucson.
He has admitted demonstrating during the Hillcrest speech how he made an incendiary device to burn down an animal-testing lab at Michigan State University in 1992, a crime for which he served four years in prison.
“You're damn right when you say I've shown people how to make a firebomb,” Coronado said in an interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune in July. “I've done my time for my crimes, and I should be able to talk about them.”
He said he was explaining how easy it is to make an incendiary device from something as common as a plastic juice bottle.
“We are simple people,” he said. “We are an organization using simple tools.”
Coronado said he speaks for both ELF and a related organization, the Animal Liberation Front.
“As a spokesperson, I consider it within my rights to explain not only their purpose but also their mode of operation,” he said.
In August, he said he was ready to fight possible charges in San Diego.
“I definitely welcome the opportunity to defend myself against this investigation because it's so frivolous,” he said.
A 1997 law that has been used only four times makes it illegal to describe how to make a destructive device with the intent that an audience member commit a federal crime, said San Diego federal prosecutor Shane Harrigan.
The Constitution protects Coronado's rights to voice his views, join organizations and propose changes in public policy, Dzwilewski said.
“What he does not have the right to do is teach others how to destroy property,” the FBI agent said. “America will not tolerate terrorists.”
It's still unclear who set the Aug. 1, 2003, University City fire, which burned a housing complex under construction next to a large shopping mall. ELF took credit in a banner left at the fire and in an e-mail message to the Union-Tribune.
Coronado spoke that night in Hillcrest, but said he was in Tucson when the fire was set early that morning. He has denied knowing who set it.
ELF also took credit for fires that destroyed four unfinished homes and damaged three others in a neighborhood under construction between Torrey Highlands and Carmel Valley.
No one has collected a $100,000 reward the FBI posted for tips in both incidents. Callers can remain anonymous, a spokeswoman said.
The investigation into the fires and Coronado's speech made news last year when three local activists were jailed for contempt of court for several months after refusing to testify before a grand jury. They were later released.
In December, a federal jury in Tucson convicted Coronado of illegally entering the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area to interfere with efforts to trap and relocate mountain lions after public sightings.
He faces up to 7½ years in prison when he's sentenced in March. That indictment called Coronado a member of a third radical environmental organization, Earth First!.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Onell Soto: (619) 293-1280; onell.soto@uniontrib.com

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