Animal activist sentenced

Published 4:34 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

Peter Daniel Young — the 1995 Mercer Island High School graduate found guilty of releasing thousands of minks from Midwest farms and dodging federal authorities for six years — was sentenced Nov. 8 to two years in prison. A U.S. District Court judge in Madison, Wisc. ruled that Young also must pay $254,840 in restitution for his crimes.

Young, 28, pleaded guilty Aug. 26 to two counts of animal enterprise terrorism. The charges stem from 1997 incidents, in which Young and a Snohomish man, Justin Samuel, were arrested for raiding mink farms in Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin. They released about 7,000 animals. After a 1998 indictment, the two men fled. Samuel was captured a year later in Belgium. He served two years for his crimes and implicated Young in the acts.

Young was arrested in March for shoplifting CDs from a Starbucks store in San Jose, Calif. Federal investigators believe Young is a member of Animal Liberation Front, a radical animal rights organization.