9 years for environmental 'terrorist'

EUGENE, Ore., May 26 (UPI) -- A veteran environmentalist has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for her part in violent protests in the western United States.

Chelsea Gerlach, 30, who became committed to her cause as a teenager, was indicted last year. She pled guilty.

Because she was charged as a terrorist, her sentence was longer than the federal guidelines suggest for the acts she admitted, The New York Times reported. But she was spared a life sentence.

"It was your intention to scare, frighten and intimidate people and government through the very dangerous act of arson," U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken told Gerlach during Friday's hearing.

Prosecutors said Gerlach and others charged with her were known as "the family" and had ties to the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front.

Earlier in the week, Aiken sentenced Stanislas Meyerhoff to 13 years in prison and Kevin Tubbs to 12 years and 7 months.

Supporters of the defendants say the sentences are harsh given that their crimes were aimed at the destruction of property and did not injure anyone.