{"id":15934,"date":"2025-12-31T11:26:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T19:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/?p=15934"},"modified":"2026-01-07T11:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T19:34:12","slug":"felony-eco-terrorism-charge-dropped-against-couple-accused-of-mink-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2025\/12\/31\/felony-eco-terrorism-charge-dropped-against-couple-accused-of-mink-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Felony eco-terrorism charge dropped against couple accused of mink release"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/northumberland-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-15936\" src=\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/northumberland-2-300x155.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"155\" srcset=\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/northumberland-2-300x155.jpg 300w, https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/northumberland-2-768x397.jpg 768w, https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/northumberland-2.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Francis Scarcella, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">SUNBURY \u2014 One felony eco-terrorism charge against an out-of-state couple accused of releasing 683 mink from a Northumberland County fur farm have been dropped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Northumberland County President Judge Paige Rosini dropped one of the two eco-terrorism charges against engaged Massachusetts couple Christopher Legere, 25, who goes by Celeste, and co-defendant Cara Mitrano, who are both accused by state police of releasing 683 mink from a fur farm outside Sunbury in the October 2024 incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Richard H. Stahl and Sons Fur Farm said mink releases in 2023 and 2024 cost the business $164,000 during testimony Monday in Northumberland County Court.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mb-4 hidden pb-5 md:block\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div id=\"_R_4h1p56mhek5clubsnm6jbH1_\" class=\"flex ad-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">No one was charged in the 2023 incident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cThe idea that it is terrorism to free animals slated to be killed strains credulity. The court made the right call,\u201d Chris Carraway, a staff attorney at Animal Activist Legal Defense Project at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, representing Mitrano, said in a press release Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Rosini also tossed some additional misdemeanor charges against Mitrano and Legere including, loitering\/prowling at night, accidents involving damage to attended vehicle or property.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">During a hearing earlier this year, the district attorney&#8217;s office also dropped a count of a corrupt organization.<\/p>\n<div class=\"mb-4 hidden pb-5 md:block\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div id=\"_R_4i9p56mhek5clubsnm6jbH1_\" class=\"flex ad-container\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Both defendants still face multiple charges, including felony animal cruelty, that will head to trail in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mitrano is also represented by Harrisburg attorney Natalie Burston and Legere is represented by Sunbury attorney Jim Best.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Both defendants are out on bail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Francis Scarcella, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa. SUNBURY \u2014 One felony eco-terrorism charge against an out-of-state couple accused of releasing 683 mink from a Northumberland County fur farm have been dropped. Northumberland County President Judge Paige Rosini dropped one of the two eco-terrorism charges against engaged Massachusetts couple Christopher Legere, 25, who goes by Celeste, &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link btn\" href=\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2025\/12\/31\/felony-eco-terrorism-charge-dropped-against-couple-accused-of-mink-release\/\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15934"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15937,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15934\/revisions\/15937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}