Three Newcastle, California, residents pleaded guilty to arson-related charges linked to the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).

On October 14, 2005, Ryan Daniel Lewis, 22, pleaded guilty to attempted arson and arson. Two sisters Eva Rose Holland, 26, and Lili Marie Holland, 21, each pleaded guilty to attempted arson.

The three were charged with attempting to burn down two homes in an upscale housing development in Lincoln, California, last December. Four incendiary devices were found at the development; graffiti left at the scene included the messages “U will pay,” “Quit destroying their homes” and “Leave.”  ELF claimed responsibility for planting the devices in a letter sent to several news agencies. 

Lewis also admitted setting fire to a Sutter Creek apartment complex in February, causing an estimated $50,000 in damage.  Seven devices ignited at the apartment complex and a storage container was spray painted with the words “We will win - ELF.”   In addition, Lewis admitted trying to firebomb an Auburn office building in January.  In that incident, five incendiary devices, which failed to ignite, were found in a building under construction.  In a letter sent to several news agencies, ELF claimed responsibility for planting the devices and said the office building was targeted as “a statement against work and the horror of the (cubicle).”

A fourth defendant, Jeremiah Colcleasure, 24, is awaiting trial.

Sentencing is scheduled for January 2005.  Lewis could receive up to 60 years in prison; the Holland sisters face 20 years.

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James Ronald Tucker, 33, was sentenced on October 17 to 43 months in prison for setting fire to a construction site in Moorhead, North Dakota, in March.  Tucker, a self described anarchist, pleaded guilty to second-degree arson in September.  During his sentencing hearing, Tucker said, “On behalf of the Earth Liberation Front and myself, thank you…I really don’t feel what I did was wrong.”  He said his act was a reaction to “corporate capitalism.”