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Associated Press - October 1, 2009 7:45 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The FBI says it has arrested a man in Texas on charges of attempting to burn a Southern California townhome construction site in a case that may involve environmental extremism.
The FBI's Los Angeles office says 43-year-old Stephen James Murphy was arrested at his Arlington home on Wednesday after recently being linked by DNA evidence from the scene of the 2006 crime in Pasadena.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says Murphy appeared in federal court in Texas on Thursday and will soon be transferred to Los Angeles.
The case began with the discovery of a crude incendiary device at the construction site. The device used cigarettes and failed to ignite.
The next day workers were unable to start a tractor that had been tampered with. A message written on the side referred to the "E.L.F.," which police say is the radical Earth Liberation Front.
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