Animal Activist Jailed for Accepting Facebook Friend Request

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-09-02 09:30:00 UTC
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Mike Roselle and Rod Coronado have known each other for awhile, but it was their Facebook friendship that landed Coronado back in jail.

In his younger days, Coronado wreaked a lot of havoc on behalf of animals. As a teenager, he was associated with Sea Shepherd and, in 1986, he caused about $2 million in damage when he and a partner destroyed the Hvalfjordur whaling station and sank two whaling vessels in protest of Iceland's refusal to comply with the international ban on commercial whaling. He was known for controversial direct action animal liberation, using tactics like arson against cruel industries including fur and animal research. Coronado's story is told in Dean Kuipers' book Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness.

But the latest (and perhaps the lamest) addition to Coronado's colorful rap sheet is accepting a Facebook friend request.

How much do you think about the consequences of sending a friend request to someone you haven't seen in years, or hitting "accept" when it's someone you know? Mike Roselle is a well-known environmental activist — co-founder of Earth First! and the Rainforest Action Network — with his own history of run-ins with the law. Someone suggested that Roselle send a friend request to Coronado and, since he knew the guy, he did. Once the two men were linked, Coronado was arrested for being in violation of his parole agreement not to associate with other activists who have a history of violence or condoning violence.

Although Coronado had informed his probation officer that his monitored computer had crashed, he was also slapped with a violation for using an unauthorized, unmonitored computer to post on Facebook. He was sentenced to four months in prison.

Ever since a 1995 arson attack  on Michigan State University research facilities, Coronado has moved back and forth between prison and some form of house arrest or parole. A few years ago, he distanced himself from his younger, wilder days in an open letter, which stated: "no longer do I personally choose to represent the cause of peace and compassion in that way."

Apparently he hasn't gotten far enough from the activism of his youth to escape the long arm of Facebook. And you thought that Junior High School photo coming back to haunt you was bad.

"Guilt by association, that's not really part of our legal system," said fateful Facebook friend Roselle. "This is a flagrant constitutional violation, if you ask me."

Photo credit: bengsoon

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
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