Joseph Mahmoud Dibee
via Federal Bureau of Investigations
UPDATE (Aug. 11, 12:16 p.m. PT) — A fugitive on the run for more than a decade for his alleged role in a string of arsons along the West Coast as part of an environmental activist group was arraigned on Friday.
Joseph Dibee, who was arrested while trying to board a plane in Cuba bound for Russia, faces federal charges in Oregon, Washington and California that include arson, conspiracy to commit arson and destruction of an energy facility, and possession of a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Dibee was detained following Friday's hearing, with a trial scheduled to begin in October at the federal courthouse in Eugene.
Assistant U.S. Geoff Barrow said that Dibee fled in 2005, and subsequently traveled in Lebanon, Russia, Syria, Ecuador and El Salvador. Though he is a U.S. citizen, he was allegedly carrying Russian and Syrian passports at the time of his arrest.
The U.S. Department of Justice said he was traveling through Central America on his way to Russia and was arrested by local authorities in Cuba during a planned stop there.
Dibee was indicted by a grand jury in 2006 along with 11 co-conspirators, the Department of Justice said in a release.
"The conspirators, known as 'The Family,' have been linked to more than 40 criminal acts ranging from vandalism to arson between 1995 and 2001, causing more than $45 million in damages," the DOJ said in a press release.
Dibee was assigned a court-appointed defense attorney.
