Teen admits setting BYU fire in protest

Looking much younger than his 18 years, a soft-spoken Harrison David Burrows admitted Tuesday to setting fire to a BYU animal science facility in the name of a militant animal-rights movement.

"I plead guilty," said the teenager, wearing a conservative gray suit and clean-cut hairstyle.

The image was certainly different from the one presented by Burrows' mug shot after his arrest in late July. In the photograph, Burrows' face was partially obscured by a shock of jet-black hair.

Burrows now faces a minimum of five years in prison when he is sentenced in January. Defense attorney Steven Killpack said Tuesday he hopes federal prosecutors will file a motion encouraging U.S. District Judge David Winder to sentence below that statutory mandatory-minimum, though such motions are rare.

Burrows pleaded guilty to one count of destruction of property by fire, the only count with which he was charged in July. In doing so, he admitted to using gasoline and a match to set fire to cardboard bales stored in the recycling area of Brigham Young University's Ellsworth Farm on July 8.

Burrows said he set the fire with another man, who has not yet been charged. That man allegedly burned two BYU tractors before he and Burrows left the area to watch the fire burn from afar. The blaze caused approximately $30,000 in damage.

In Burrows' statement filed with the court Tuesday, he said: "We started the fires to make a political statement on behalf of the Animal Liberation Front."

The fire was the third attack on the farm since May. In each incident, perpetrators left behind spray-painted messages indicating they were involved with the ALF and freed several animals kept at the facility, according to court documents.

On Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Lunnen said the incidents remain under investigation and others could be charged for their participation in the attacks.

Since his arrest, Burrows has moved to West Virginia to live with his family and has started his freshman year at Marshall University. Burrows stayed behind when his family moved last year to finish his senior year at Mountain View High School in Orem.

Prior to his family leaving, Killpack said Burrows was "an ideal son and young citizen." And he is doing well now that he is back with his parents and eight siblings, Killpack said.

Winder scheduled Burrows' sentencing in January, longer than the traditional eight-week period, to allow Burrows to finish his school semester.

The BYU fire came just three weeks after a three-alarm blaze at a West Jordan lumber yard, which is also believed to have been set in the name of an ecoterrorist organization. Members of the Earth Liberation Front have claimed responsibility for that fire, which caused approximately $1.5 million in damage.

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