05/27/2010 // WPB, FL, USA // Nicole Howley // Nicole Howley
Santa Cruz, CA– The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is investigating a suspected case of sabotage that was directed towards a UC Santa Cruz professor and researcher. Authorities stated, as the researcher’s wife was about to get into her SUV, she noticed that brake fluid was draining from the vehicle, alerting her that the brake lines were cut, as reported by ABC Local.
FBI investigators are now trying to determine if the act was a case of vandalism or sabotage. Officials believe the act took place sometime between late Saturday night or early Sunday morning in a residential neighborhood located in the hills of Santa Cruz. The SUV was reportedly parked in front of the researchers home.
Santa Cruz Deputy police Chief Rick Martinez stated, “The vehicle’s braking system had been disabled. The braking lines had been cut. Cables to the emergency brakes had been cut.”
The researcher is apparently a professor of marine biology at UC Santa Cruz.
Martinez speculates, “The work that the researcher does may suggest that there’s an extremist group behind the vandalism, but it hasn’t been absolutely confirmed.”
Coincidentally, a townhouse belonging to a UC Santa Cruz biology researcher was firebombed two years ago. Just minutes earlier, another bomb detonated, gutting a car owned by another researcher. The researcher’s names were reportedly on pamphlets that were left a coffee shop, which police believe belonged to animal rights activists. Those cases have yet to be solved.
FBI agents stated that the researcher does not use animals in his research, and has never received any threats prior to this incident.
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