EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A participant in Oregon eco-terrorism arsons who avoided prison by working as an informant could be locked up if he is found to have violated probation with a drug offense.
Jacob Jeremiah Ferguson appeared Monday before a federal magistrate who set a probation hearing for May 5 in federal court in Eugene.
His lawyer told The Register Guard that he expects Ferguson will be charged in Lane County Circuit Court with a drug-related offense. That could be a violation of the five-year probation sentence he was given in a 2008 federal plea deal.
Ferguson pleaded guilty to arson charges but avoided prison by wearing a recording device to collect evidence that helped convict 10 former associates in the “Operation Backfire” case against environmental and animal rights extremists.
