Members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested a man on Dec. 8 in connection with a hoax bomb threat that resulted in the evacuation of the UC San Diego School of Medicine complex earlier in the week.
Timothy Bryon Kalka, a former lab technician who worked at the Leichtag Biomedical Research Building, was arrested around 6 a.m. His employment had been terminated by UCSD on Nov. 30, and his former workplace was the location of the bomb threat.
Authorities released a letter and an audio recording that included threats to detonate explosives in research laboratories on campus from the Animal Liberation Front, the same group that recently targeted the homes of UCLA researchers.
“As part of the investigation, a letter was obtained in this matter. … The letter alleges to represent the Animal Liberation Front,” said FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth.
A suspicious package, which authorities later determined to be a hoax, was discovered in the Leichtag Biomedical Research Building around 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 5, and officials cleared out all buildings in the School of Medicine, along with the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Cellular and Molecular Medicine East building, according to the UCSD Guardian, the school newspaper.
“No injuries (were) reported but it did cause the evacuation of several buildings on campus and major disruption to the operation of the campus,” Foxworth said.
Classes at the UCSD campus were not canceled, but employees in the medical center were sent home early on administrative leave.
While the timeline of events leading up to the evacuation has not been released, a union representative alleged that university officials received warning of the threat on Dec. 4, but still allowed employees to work that day, the Guardian reported.
The ALF has also taken responsibility for attacks on UCLA faculty members, the most recent being a flooding of Professor Edythe London’s Beverly Hills residence on Oct. 20.
The investigation continues on the London case, as well as previous incidents that date back to July 2006.
Rewards are being offered for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of parties involved in the prior UCLA incidents.
Jerry Vlasak, a spokesman for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, said his organization has no affiliation with the ALF, but his office sometimes receives press releases days or weeks after an incident takes place. He has yet to receive communication about the UCSD hoax bomb threat.
“We don’t have any other knowledge other than what we’ve heard through the media,” Vlasak said.
He said the Animal Liberation Front has no central membership, so it may be possible that different individuals or groups can all claim themselves as part of the group.
“The point here is that people are ideologically driven to help animals,” he said.
He added that activists are against the use of animals against their will in research, because he believes there is little benefit and it is not worth the cost.
Vlasak, a former animal researcher and current medical doctor, said he does not believe activists are exclusively targeting the UC, citing an act of vandalism done to the car of a researcher from Oregon Health and Science University on Dec. 6.
But he said that due to the amount of animal research the UC does he is not surprised that they have been the focus of previous attacks.
“Certainly the UC is one of the largest organizations that confines and deprives animals of their rights,” he said.
The University of California Council of Chancellors, which includes the president of the UC system and the chancellors from the 9 campuses, released a statement condemning illegal and violent acts committed by animal rights activists.
“We will pursue all means available to us to help bring the individuals involved in criminal behavior to justice,” the statement read.