Hinsdale Criminals Sentenced

FUR COMMISSION USA PRESS RELEASE, AUGUST 1997
Hinsdale Criminals Sentenced
Three animal rights activists charged with breaking and entering, theft and malicious destruction of property at the Carmel Fur Farm in Hinsdale, Massachusetts were sentenced July 9 after admitting guilt in vandalizing a mink farm Thanksgiving of 1996.
Jamie Roth, 19, a senior at Tufts University in Medford, Alex Smolak, 20, of Boston and Warren Upson, 18, of Lexington were all found guilty of breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony, larceny over $250, malicious destruction of property over $250 and trespass after notice. A fourth person, a juvenile, was also arrested on November 28, 1996 but his name and status were unavailable due to his age.
The November attack was the third during 1996 on the Hinsdale farm which has operated under the same ownership for 45 years. During the November 1996 trespass on the farm, police found a one-gallon can of kerosene and a Boston-area newspaper abandoned near a stream, suggesting arson. None of the four were charged with that crime.
At the end of the hearing, Jeanne Carmel, one of the owners of the farm, stated that she, her husband and their son Craig proudly worked 365 days a year taking care of their animals and were offended that animal rightists would presume to violate the family’s right to earn a living.
Ms. Carmel was quoted in the Berkshire Eagle on July 10, 1997, “We may completely disagree with [what] you believe. However we respect your right to believe that way. Having said that, we would like to point out that we are not in Boston, in the middle of the night, running around your private property trying to harm you or change your beliefs. Therefore, we ask you to please respect our right to operate our business the way we choose and leave us alone.”
District Court Judge Alfred A. Barbalunga ordered the guilty parties to pay $3,100 in restitution to the Carmels, to stay away from the Carmel Farm, he sentenced them to three days in jail, to one-year probation and added these felony convictions to their permanent records.
Defendant Warren Upson’s father serves as Harvard Law School’s Assistant Dean of Finance.
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