A woman charged as an eco-terrorist in Sacramento, Oregon and Colorado, and who has been an international fugitive for 10 years, surrendered to the FBI Thursday.
By prearrangement, Rebecca Jeanette Rubin, a Canadian citizen, was taken into custody at the international border in Blaine, Wash.
After an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle, Rubin will be transferred in custody to Eugene to face trial in the largest eco-terrorism prosecution in U.S. history.
Rubin, 39, is under indictment separately in Sacramento federal court, charged with conspiracy, arson, and using a destructive device in an Oct. 15, 2001, fire at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's wild horse and burro facility near Susanville.
A Colorado federal indictment charges Rubin with eight counts of arson in a series of fires on Oct. 19, 1998, that destroyed several buildings at the Vail ski area in Eagle County. If a resolution is not reached in Oregon, charges in the other two states will be addressed later.
Rubin is charged in Oregon with being part of a 13-person conspiracy involved in 20 acts of arson spanning five years – 1996 to 2001 – across five Western states, allegedly committed by self-proclaimed members of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front.
According to the indictment, the group sought to influence the conduct of government, private business, and the civilian population through "force, violence, sabotage, mass destruction, intimidation and coercion," and to retaliate against government and the private sector "by similar means."
In August 2007, 10 of the defendants received prison terms ranging from 37 months to 13 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy and multiple counts of arson. The other two defendants, Joseph Mahmoud Dibee, 45, and Josephine Sunshine Overaker, 38, remain at large.
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