Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT)
2 men indicted in mink raids
By Ben Winslow
Thursday, March 5, 2009 11:00 p.m. MST
http://deseretnews.com:80/article/1,5143,705288986,00.html

Two men have been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with
a pair of mink farm raids.

The indictments unsealed Thursday against William James Viehl, 22, and
Alex Jason Hall, 20, charge them with two counts of damage and
interference with animal enterprises. Federal authorities said it is
in connection with an August 2008 raid on a South Jordan farm, where
300 minks were released and slogans like "No More Mink, No More
Murder" and "ALF: We Are Watching" were spray-painted on property
there.

The indictment also accuses the pair of attempting to damage a mink
farm in Hyrum in October.

"While we recognize and respect the strongly held beliefs of those who
advocate for animal rights, when their actions cross over the line
into criminal conduct, we are going to take aggressive action," U.S.
Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman said Thursday.

Viehl was arrested by FBI agents in Layton on Thursday. Hall was
arrested in Ogden. Both men are being held in the Salt Lake County
Jail pending an appearance in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City on
this morning.

The Animal Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the South
Jordan raid, crediting one of its "soldiers." Tolman refused to say if
he believed the two were part of the ALF, a loosely knit collective of
hard-core animal-rights activists. The FBI has branded the group a
"domestic terrorist organization," but federal authorities also would
not say if they considered Viehl and Hall "terrorists."

Still, FBI agents said they are preparing for a pushback with
so-called "sympathy attacks," from those carrying out attacks in the
name of the accused.

"We're going to be keenly aware if anything like that comes up here,"
said Tim Fuhrman, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake
City office. "They operate on cloak and dagger."

Jerry Vlasak, who acts as a spokesman for the ALF, said such actions
are not uncommon.

"They're putting the wrong people in jail," Vlasak told the Deseret
News on Thursday. "These are people who care about innocent beings
being tortured and killed for rich folks making a fashion statement."

Federal prosecutors said the grand jury investigation is ongoing.
Still unsolved is the September 2008 raid on a Kaysville mink farm
that led to the release of 3,000 minks.

Last month, two animal-rights activists were subpoenaed to testify
before the federal grand jury, sparking protests outside the federal
courthouse over the secret proceedings.

One of the activists refused to testify and faces a contempt of court
hearing later this month. Jordan Halliday told the Deseret News on
Thursday that he knows both Viehl and Hall, but he "would not assume"
they were involved in anything, and he suspects federal authorities
may try to press them for information on others.

"At this point I feel it's a fishing expedition," Halliday said. "I
don't think they have evidence on these people. They're trying to
charge them to set a precedent in the animal rights community."

Vlasak claimed the indictments of two people — who were not the ones
called before the grand jury — is payback.

"They bring in these two activists before the grand jury last month
who refused to cooperate," he said. "Now they're trying Plan B."

E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com

I wonder if any of them made it down to the Jordan river? I might have to start water traping.

Good, civil disobedience is still disobedience. You have the right to protest, now go home. We have laws that protect a lot of things and these people wont respect that and infringe their ideology onto everyone, as gospel and discredit everything else. What are the odds that neither of these kids work for a living or live on their own?

JTM, according to the paper when this happened, most were re-captured or died frrom heat exhaustion or being ran over.

Hope they nail them to the wall if guilty . Terorrists are all the AR folks are plain and simple .

Drifter