LOS ANGELES, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The FBI said on Thursday it would like to speak to a man who contacted a newspaper to claim that he helped a radical environmental group firebomb sports utility vehicles at a Los Angeles area auto dealership.
The man, who refused to identify himself, told the Los Angeles Times in several phone calls and e-mails that he helped set fire to the Hummers and other SUVs and was telling the paper to help clear another man arrested in connection with the crimes and then released for lack of evidence.
"This is obviously something we would be interested in talking to this individual about," FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura said. "If this individual feels he has information and is talking to the Times we think he should come forward and contact the FBI."
Last week Josh Connole, a 25-year-old environmental activist, was arrested by the FBI in connection with the incident, in which SUVs were also scrawled with the slogans "terrorist" and "gross polluter."
Connole was released on Monday after prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to charge him but remains a suspect, authorities have said. The claims of the man who contacted the Los Angeles Times did not appear to change that.
But the Times reported that the man, who described himself as a high school dropout, provided the paper with details of the crime that had not been previously made public, including the fact that a math formula was spray-painted on one of the SUVs by the vandals as a way of distinguishing their work.
The man also told the paper that Corona beer bottles were used to make most of the Molotov cocktails and that he and the others were unable to smash the shatter-resistant front windshields of the Hummers.
The Times quotes sources close to the investigation as saying that authorities were skeptical of his claim that he does not know Connole.