Capitola animal rights activist sentenced in Marin

By Gary Klien - MediaNews Posted: 
01/22/2009 04:34:34 PM PST

MARIN - An animal-rights advocate who threatened a Larkspur professor over his medical research was sentenced to six months in Marin County Jail.

Justin Bhagat Thind, 33, also received three years of probation during a sentencing hearing Wednesday before Judge Faye D'Opal. Thind's lawyer, Robert Casper, said the sentence was "fair and appropriate."

"He never intended to carry out his threats, but at the same time he recognized the wrongfulness of his actions and he's remorseful for it," Casper said.

The case began in 2007 after someone obtained the phone numbers and personal information of several University of California at San Francisco researchers who used live animals in their work.

The information was posted on Internet discussion boards for animal-rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Animal Liberation Front, according to court documents.

Threatening phone calls were received by several UCSF researchers, including a Larkspur resident who was called repeatedly in the middle of the night. The researcher used live animals in studies on congestive heart failure.

"I am going to come over and f... you up," the caller said, according to a court affidavit. "Stop doing research, or I'll come over and burn your f...... house down! I'm gonna string you up and make your family watch!"

By examining the victims' phone records, investigators found that the researchers had all received calls from a particular phone number that was later traced to Thind, a Capitola resident.

Thind was charged with threatening three researchers - the Larkspur resident and two others in San Mateo County.

Last month, he pleaded guilty to one count in the Marin case and pleaded no contest in the San Mateo County case.