FBI agents have nabbed four people suspected of harassing University of California life science researchers over the past two years.

Federal agents arrested twenty-somethings Adriana Stumpo, Nathan Pope, Joseph Buddenberg, and Maryam Khajavi late last week and charged them with using "force, violence, or threats to interfere with the operation of the University of California in violation of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act," according to an FBI release. Stumpo and Pope were arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina as they returned to the US from Costa Rica, and Buddenberg and Khajavi were arrested in California.

The four, either together or individually, have been connected to a string of incidents that ranged from protesting outside the home of UC Berkeley researchers, to distributing threatening flyers in a Santa Cruz coffee shop and attempting to force their way into the home of a UC Santa Cruz researcher.

Last year, a UC Santa Cruz researcher's home was firebombed, but these four suspects are not charged with that crime, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. The FBI is still investigating that incident.

"This sends a strong message that our community won't tolerate this type of senseless violence," said Santa Cruz Police Department Chief of Police Howard Skerry in the FBI statement. "You have absolutely no right to attack a family in the sanctity of their home."

Apprehending the suspects came about with the assistance of a variety of local, federal, and international law enforcement agencies, including the Santa Cruz Police Department, the Costa Rican Organismo de Investigacion Judicial, the Costa Rican Attorney General's office, the United State Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, and the Interpol National Central Bureau in Costa Rica.


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