However, by the time they were sentenced, members of The Family expressed regret and frustration that after all their hardships, they had accomplished practically nothing.
A horse slaughterhouse in Redmond, Ore., was never rebuilt, but the ski resort and ranger stations were reconstructed, timber companies stayed in business, and wild horses were still rounded up and removed from federal lands.
The two remaining fugitives are Joseph Mahmoud Dibee and Josephine Sunshine Overaker, Ferguson's former girlfriend. Dibee is believed to be in Syria, where he has family, and Overaker is believed to be in Europe, Peifer said.
Animal rights activist Peter Young spent eight years as a fugitive before officers stumbled upon him in 2005 at a Santa Cruz, Calif., Starbucks. He eventually served two years in prison for freeing thousands of mink from Midwest fur farms in the name of the Animal Liberation Front in 1997.
"There are two rules to being a good fugitive," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. "If you have an ID under a different name and don't call your parents, you can live free for a very long time."
Young added there is a benefit to staying on the run for a long time, as Rubin did: "The lawyers all told me at different times as I was preparing to turn myself in, but never did — they said, 'You stay away for a long time, the feds usually get to the point they're not so zealous about your case anymore.'"
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Associated Press writer Manuel Valdes in Seattle contributed to this report.
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Jeff Barnard can be reached at —https://twitter.com/JeffBarnardAP
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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