Two California animal rights activists were arrested Friday for allegedly terrorizing the fur industry during cross-country road trips, releasing thousands of minks and vandalizing property, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s office.
A federal grand jury indictment alleges Joseph Buddenberg, 31, and Nicole Kissane, 28, caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage during their 2013 spree.
In one incident, the Oakland residents allegedly traveled from Oregon to San Diego on July 15, 2013, to target local merchant Furs by Graf. The indictment says they used paint, paint stripper, super glue, muriatic acid and butyric acid to vandalize the furrier, as well as the Spring Valley and La Mesa homes of the business’s owners and their parents.
“It wasn’t just throwing a rock through a window,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parmley. “It was the use of some pretty horrific smelling acids, some glass etchant, causing thousands of dollars’ worth of damage.”
Buddenberg and Kissane are accused of publicizing their crimes by posting “communiqués” on websites associated with animal rights extremists.
The trail of destruction in the summer of 2013 stretched across the country, as the two suspects allegedly sneaked onto farms and freed minks in Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, destroying breeding records along the way, the indictment says. They allegedly released a bobcat from a Montana farm as well.
In San Francisco, they’re accused of slashing a meat distributor’s tires. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, they allegedly smashed windows and glued door locks at a furrier business. In Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, they are suspects in the vandalism and attempted flooding of a home belonging to a North American Fur Auction employee.
Living without jobs, the defendants are said to have sold items online to pay for their trips, according to the indictment. To stay off the grid, they would alllegedly use large sums of cash — withdrawn before their journeys — and avoid using phones, known online accounts and email. Instead, prosecutors said they would use public computers and encrypted email.
Buddenberg and Kissane are being charged in San Diego with conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and the FBI took them into custody in Oakland on Friday. Officials plan to extradite them back to Southern California for prosecution.
“Whatever your feelings about the fur industry, there are legal ways to make your opinions known,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy in a statement. “The conduct alleged here, sneaking around at night, stealing property and vandalizing homes and businesses with acid, glue, and chemicals, is a form of domestic terrorism and can’t be permitted to continue.”
It’s unclear if either suspect has obtained an attorney.
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