In August 2002 a Portland, Oregon grand jury indicted Michael James Scarpitti (AKA Tre Arrow) and three others for their role in a June 2001 arson attack at a logging company. Although Scarpitti was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted List in December 2002, so far Scarpitti has eluded capture.
Police in Tigard, Oregon, spent a couple hours in early August searching a wooded area near a mall after a man reported seeing Scarpitti in the area. The witness said he recognized Scarpitti from pictures in the media. The witness said Scarpitti was walking with another man, but the search was called off after two hours without finding the fugitive.
One of Scarpitti’s alleged accomplices, Jacob D.B. Sherman, plead guilty in December 2002 for his role in that and another fire, and will be sentenced in September. He is expected to receive about three-and-a-half years for the arson.
With Scarpitti on the run, Sherman apparently used the Tre-made-me-do-it defense, with The Oregonian reporting that,
Federal court papers indicate that Arrow helped mold Sherman in his likeness, radicalizing the younger man’s environmentalism. And aside from environmental beliefs, Sherman followed Arrow in adopting a vegan diet, shunning bathing and going barefoot.
Scarpitti was apparently in excellent physical health and used to spending days and even weeks at a time in trees to protest logging, so there is some speculation that he may be emulating recently captured fugitive Eric Rudolph in remaining as much as possible in wooded areas where he is less likely to be spotted.
There is a $25,000 reward for anyone who offers information leading to the capture of Scarpitti. People with such information should call their local FBI office.
Sources:
FBI still chasing Tre Arrow. Bryan Denson, The Oregonian, August 11, 2003.