Parents of Randolph grad accused of eco-terrorism: That's not the son we know

By MEGHAN VAN DYK
Daily Record
November 30, 2009

Bianca Franchi and Paul Solondz raised their son Justin Solondz with a profound appreciation for nature.

With no TV and a strict vegetarian diet, Justin Solondz, now 30, was taught to question authority and respect the diversity of different cultures, said Franchi, who fondly remembers gardening and taking her only son for hikes in the woods behind her former home in Randolph.

"He was not doted upon, not raised with a focus on material possessions, more on character building and looking out to the natural world," said Franchi, of Denville, adding her son took wilderness survival courses. "He showed interest in art, wrote poetry and felt strongly about protecting the environment and animals."

Justin Solondz, a 1998 Randolph High School graduate, was sentenced Friday to three years in a Chinese prison after pleading guilty on Oct. 20 to manufacturing illegal drugs. The jail term is to be followed by deportation from China to the United States, where he faces multiple charges related to his alleged role in two acts of arson committed in 2001 and attibuted to "the Family" — a collection of radical environmentalists aligned with the Earth and Animal Liberation Fronts, said Robbie Burroughs, a spokeswoman with Seattle FBI.

Justin Solondz, an Evergreen State College student at the time of the acts of arson, is accused of helping in May 2001 to burn down the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington in Seattle using "timed improvised incendiary devices."

In October of the same year, Justin Solondz is alleged to have been involved in another fire and attempted animal release at the Litchfield Wild Horse and Burro Corral in California, where authorities say they discovered similar devices. There were no injuries in either incident.

Justin Solondz and more than a dozen others believed to be part of "the Family" were indicted in 2006 in Washington and California and charged with conspiracy to commit arson and use and making unregistered destructive devices, among other charges.

Justin Solondz's parents said they have never spoken to Solondz about his suspected involvement in the fires — called acts of domestic terrorism by authorities — and that media reports that he skipped the country to evade those charges are false.

"He left to travel eight months before any indictment was handed down," said Paul Solondz of West Orange. "He spent time traveling through eastern Europe, visiting Holocaust sites, family roots. What he is accused of, when he was merely 20, 21, he's never been served with these papers."

Paul Solondz and Franchi met with their son in China for a visit after his trial on the drug charges. It was the first time they had seen him since he left the country for a family wedding in Italy in 2005, which he attended with Franchi, they said.

They brought him books, about 60 in all, mostly philosophy texts, advanced Chinese language dictionaries and books on the history of China and meditation. Paul Solondz said his son looked gaunt.

"It was very emotional. The first few minutes, all of us cried," Paul Solondz said. "It's difficult to see your child caged."

The visit was supervised by Chinese officials, he said, and the parents were barred from speaking about any of the charges against him.

During the trial, Paul Solondz said his son was not harvesting marijuana plants for drug consumption at the home he rented in Dali city in southwestern China's Tunnan province. Instead, Paul Solondz said, his son had made a failed attempt at extracting oil from marijuana leaves, resulting in a toxic mixture. A friend, he said, buried some 33 pounds of the leaves in a courtyard for fear of damaging the environment.

Franchi said she believes good comes from the tension of conflicts. She described how a film in which Justin Solondz was involved during college, documenting the clash between environmentalists and lumber companies over the rights to old-growth forest, led to the preservation of the forest.

"The charges are shocking and don't fit the profile of how we knew him to be," Franchi said. "We are loving parents of an only child who we and those in our family thought the world of. We are holding onto the thought that he will be reunited with us soon."