WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Four people said to have acted on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front have been indicted on a charge of setting fire to an agriculture research building on the Michigan State University campus more than eight years ago , authorities announced Tuesday . Three Detroit , Michigan , residents and a Cincinnati , Ohio , resident were named in conspiracy and arson counts for a fire at a campus facility that housed federally funded plant genetic research . Officials said the December 31,1999 , fire on the East Lansing campus caused more than $ 1 million in damage to facilities and the loss of research records . They also are accused of setting fire the next day to commercial logging equipment near Mesick , Michigan , in order to sabotage lumbering activity . `` This investigation has been ongoing for almost a decade , and it should be a reminder to all that the FBI does not allow the passage of time to thwart our ability to apply our full resources to a case , '' said FBI Special Agent in Charge Andrew Arena . Michigan State Police Chief James Dunlap called the case `` a significant act of domestic terrorism . '' `` This was more than an attack on a building and the destruction of valuable property , '' MSU President Lou Anna Simon said . `` It was an assault on the core value of free and open inquiry at a research university . '' Officials said those named in the indictment are Marie Mason , 46 , of Cincinnati ; and Frank Ambrose , 33 , Aren Burthwick , 27 , and Stephanie Fultz , 27 , all of Detroit . E-mail to a friend .
3 Michigan residents and an Ohio resident named in conspiracy , two counts . They are alleged to have set fire to an agriculture research building at Michigan State . Fire nine years ago caused $ 1 million in damage and loss of research records . Michigan State Police chief called fire ' a significant act of domestic violence '