Three more people pleaded guilty Friday to being part of an ecoterrorist cell that planted fire bombs around the West.
The trio are accused of trying to stop logging, wild horse roundups, genetic engineering of plants, sport utility vehicles sales and expansion of a ski resort into endangered lynx habitat.
In pleading guilty, the three admitted they were part of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, loose-knit groups of environmental activists that claimed credit for arsons in recent years throughout the West.
The pleas in U.S. District Court brought to six the number of people indicted on conspiracy and arson charges. They have agreed to cooperate with the investigation into 16 attacks that occurred from 1996 to 2001 and caused more than $20 million in damage in Oregon, Washington, California, Wyoming and Colorado.
Three others pleaded guilty Thursday, three are fugitives, and four are scheduled to go on trial Oct. 31.
Those pleading guilty were Portland disc jockey Chelsea Gerlach, 29; Stanislaus Meyerhoff, 29, Gerlach's high school classmate; and Susanne Savoie, 29, an employee at a group home for the developmentally disabled.
Meyerhoff and Gerlach admitted to a number of attacks, including firebombing a police station in 2000. Meyerhoff and Savoie admitted setting fire to a lumber company in 2001, and Savoie pleaded guilty to setting fire to a tree farm.
Prosecutors recommended prison sentences of 15 years for Meyerhoff, 10 for Gerlach, and five for Savoie.
