Federal agents investigating a huge arson fire two years ago raided the home of a jailed activist and those of her mother and a friend last week.
Officials have previously said in court that they are seeking information that will help them arrest the arsonists.
The fire caused $50 million in damage to a housing complex under construction in University City on Aug. 1, 2003.
A radical group, the Earth Liberation Front, claimed credit through a banner and an e-mail.
Prosecutors have also said that agents are trying to determine whether Rod Coronado, a radical activist, broke federal law later that day by showing how he set fire to an animal lab at Michigan State University.
Three San Diego animal rights activists – David Agranoff, Danae Kelley and Nicole Fink – were jailed this summer after a federal judge found them in civil contempt when they refused to testify before a grand jury.
The three have said they don't have information about the fire, but don't want to testify before the secret panel because they feel it violates their rights of free speech and association.
Critics say the raids on the homes at 6 a.m. Friday were designed to harass activists.
They say investigators are indiscriminately going after people who know nothing about the case.
"When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail," said Kelley's husband, Justin Hand.
He said he was handcuffed for three hours while agents pored over the small Normal Heights apartment he shared with his wife before she was jailed.
Agents gave him a copy of a search warrant stating they are seeking evidence of arson and conspiracy of arson.
Among other things, the search warrant authorized agents to seize items "concerning radical activism and any other materials which reflect a conspiracy to commit arson or the identity of arson conspirators," Hand said.
Hand, who just finished a four-year Navy enlistment, said investigators took correspondence between him and his wife while he was at sea, and also while she has been in jail.
"They took every single letter," he said.
Authorities said they can't comment on matters before a grand jury.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office tried to get Justin Hand to testify before the grand jury this summer, but dropped those efforts after his lawyer argued that any testimony would violate protections of conversations between spouses.
Kelley's lawyer, Julie Blair, said she has tried in vain to schedule a court hearing to argue that continuing to jail the activists is pointless because it's clear they won't talk.
Blair also said authorities raided the homes of Kelley's mother and of a friend who had done computer work for Kelley.
Jeremy Warren, Agranoff's lawyer, said: "It's further intimidation and harassment. It's no longer the individual. ... It's family members and friends."
FBI spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said agents are simply trying to solve crimes.
"We're doing what the American people pay us to do, that is, to conduct investigations where there are allegations of federal law broken," she said. "In other words, we're doing our job."
Onell Soto: (619) 293-1280; onell.soto@uniontrib.com
