FBI Arrests Man on Federal Charges Related to 2006 Attempted Arson Linked to Domestic Terror in Pasadena, California

In a case that may have links to environmental extremism, a man charged in a 2006 attempted arson of a real estate construction site in Pasadena, California has been arrested by FBI agents in Texas, announced Keith Bolcar, the acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles.

Stephen James Murphy, 43, of Arlington, Texas, and former resident of California, was arrested at his home Wednesday morning after being named in a criminal complaint filed last week in United States District Court in Los Angeles. The complaint charges Murphy with the attempted arson of unfinished townhomes in Pasadena, California in 2006. Murphy was recently linked to evidence left at the crime scene through forensic analysis.

The complaint alleges that on September 19, 2006, the Pasadena Fire Department responded to a construction site after a crude incendiary device was discovered. Detectives initiated an arson investigation and determined that the device had failed to function properly and did not ignite.

The next day, construction workers could not start their tractor vehicle when they arrived for work. According to the complaint, the workers found a message written in permanent marker on the side of the inoperable vehicle which read, “ANOTHER TRACTOR DECOMMISIONED BY THE E.L.F.” Pasadena detectives recognized the signature as referring to the Earth Liberation Front and notified the FBI. The investigation later revealed that the ignition system of the tractor had been tampered with, according to the complaint.

Evidence collected at the scene was processed at the FBI’s laboratory, where analysts extracted male DNA from cigarettes used as components of the incendiary device. The DNA was found to be that of a single individual. The results for these DNA samples were then entered into CODIS (the Combined DNA Index System). A CODIS search using the DNA profile of the samples extracted from the cigarettes matched the DNA profile of Steven James Murphy, whose DNA was on record with the California Department of Justice.

A federal arrest warrant was issued for Murphy on September 24 and FBI agents and police officers in Arlington, Texas arrested him, yesterday, without incident. Murphy is scheduled to make his initial appearance this afternoon in United States District Court in Dallas. Prosecutors in Texas will ask the court to remove Murphy to Los Angeles to face prosecution.

This investigation was conducted by agents with the FBI’s Field Offices in Los Angeles and Dallas, and the FBI’s Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia; investigators with the Pasadena Police Department and Pasadena Fire Department, as well as members of the San Gabriel Valley Arson Task Force. Officers with the Police Department at the University of Texas – Arlington, and officers with the Arlington, Texas, Police Department, provided considerable assistance during this investigation and during the arrest of Mr. Murphy.

The case against Murphy will be prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.