Left-Wing Enviro-Terrorist Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

Reuters

A California man described by prosecutors as an "eco-terrorist" was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison on Thursday for plotting to blow up a federal forestry site, telephone towers and other targets.

Eric McDavid, 29, was convicted by a federal jury in March after two co-conspirators, Zachary Jenson and Lauren Weiner, pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government. Weiner is due to be sentenced on May 15 and Jenson on August 7.

McDavid's sentence of 235 months in a federal prison "should serve as a cautionary tale to those who would conspire to commit life-threatening acts in the name of their extremist views," U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said in a statement issued in Sacramento, California.

Federal prosecutors said the three defendants planned to attack targets including the U.S. Forest Service Institute of Forest Genetics, the Nimbus Dam and Fish Hatchery, cellular telephone towers and electric power stations.

As part of the plot, Weiner ordered a book called "Poor Man's James Bond" with recipes and instructions for creating explosive devices, they said.

McDavid, Jenson and Weiner were arrested in January 2006 outside a store in Auburn, California, after buying items to create the explosives, prosecutors said.