DETROIT (AP) -- A man who admits setting a fire that caused more than $1 million in damage at Michigan State University is getting a vacation along the Atlantic Ocean, a month before his sentence for a crime described as domestic terrorism.
A federal judge recently approved Frank Ambrose's request to leave Michigan and spend this week on Tybee Island, Ga.
The Detroit man's parents rented a cottage "for the purpose of assembling the entire family in a relaxed vacation setting" ahead of the Sept. 22 hearing, defense attorney Michael Brady said in a court filing.
Brady declined to comment Wednesday. In March, Ambrose pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit arson and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.
It took more than eight years for authorities to bring charges against him and three others. The fire occurred on New Year's Eve 1999 at MSU's historic Agriculture Hall.
The indictment says Ambrose poured gas and lit a fuse while an accomplice spray-painted "No GMO" on a wall, a reference to genetically modified organisms.
The next day, 150 miles away in Mesick in northern Michigan, Ambrose and others poured gasoline on logging equipment and set a fire, causing damage worth $18,000, according to the indictment.
Ambrose was affiliated with the Earth Liberation Front, or ELF, a radical band of environmentalists, the government alleges. U.S. Attorney Charles Gross called it "domestic terrorism, plain and simple."
Deep in a 15-page plea agreement with prosecutors, Ambrose admitted roles in 11 other acts of property destruction in Michigan and Indiana. They include arson that destroyed new homes in Washtenaw and Macomb counties in 2003 and incidents in Bloomington, North Vernon and Shoals, Ind.
Ambrose has been free on bond since charges were filed in March, but he's been restricted to Michigan unless he gets the court's approval. He attended a family wedding in Pennsylvania in May and traveled to Illinois in June to install a wood floor at his sister's home.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagen Frank was away from his office and unavailable for comment Wednesday. At sentencing, Brady predicts Frank will describe Ambrose's "substantial and rather extraordinary cooperation" with investigators since his arrest.
Three other defendants face trial Sept. 30 in federal court in Kalamazoo.