US: University arson suspect arrested in China

10 July 2011

A decade after the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture burst into flames, the person accused of making the firebombs that started the blaze has been arrested, reports Brandi Kruse for MyNorthwest.

Federal authorities took 31-year-old Justin Solondz into custody in China, where he was in prison for manufacturing narcotic drugs, according to Assistant US Attorney Andrew Friedman. From there, Solondz was escorted to Chicago where he will make an initial court appearance.

"FBI personnel across the bureau worked tirelessly to bring Solondz back to the United States, with agents tracking him across Eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia and China," said Laura Laughlin, with the FBI's Seattle office. Solondz is the fifth and final person to be charged in the May 2001 arson, which caused $6 million in damage to the structure and destroyed samples of rare and endangered plants.
Full report on the MyNorthwest site

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