Biography
Kevin is an activist from the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. A vegan since age 15, Kevin has been involved in numerous animal rights campaigns since the mid-2000s, including vegan outreach, anti-vivisection work, and a tour with Sea Shepherd.
On February 29, 2016, after spending over a year in state custody and then more than another year in federal custody awaiting sentencing, Kevin finally had his federal sentencing hearing. Kevin was sentenced to 36 months, with credit for time served (both state and federal time). Kevin was released from prison and moved into a halfway house in May of 2016.
About the Case
Kevin Olliff (aka Kevin Johnson) and Tyler Lang were indicted under the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act for allegedly releasing—and conspiring to release—about 2,000 mink and foxes from Midwest fur farms. They were arrested during the summer of 2013 and took non-cooperating plea deals on state charges of “possession of burglary tools.” Then almost a year later, they were indicted on federal AETA charges. During the summer of 2015, Kevin and Tyler entered into a non-cooperating plea agreements through which they plead guilty to violating the AETA.
Although it may seem ridiculous to charge people with “terrorism” for allegedly saving animals from living in barren wire cages and being killed by methods that may include anal electrocution or having their necks snapped, the ridiculousness speaks to what is beneath the surface of this legislation. The AETA was crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group of corporate power players who write pieces of model legislation that suit their interests, and then ALEC passes off the legislation to members of Congress. Many members of ALEC are part of the pharmaceutical, big ag, and other industries that exploit and kill animals for profit—industries that have a huge interest in stopping the actions of animal liberation activists.
To add to the mix, the State uses the label of “terrorism” with a lot of flexibility in order to be able to manipulate public fear based on the State interests of the day, and this context left the label open for ALEC to apply it to animal liberation activists. And so ALEC devised the AETA, legislation not meant so much for prosecuting activists (Kevin and Tyler are among only a handful of people who’ve been charged under the AETA), but to conjure public fear of the animal liberation movement and deter people from getting involved in activism, let alone from freeing animals from the hell of fur farms.
CCR reports that the judge rejected the proposed ALF gang enhancement in January 2010 and that Olliff pleaded no contest to the remaining counts. The report expected release in October 2010; an expected date is not actual discharge and does not replace the existing independently sourced November release. Center for Constitutional Rights Annual Report 2010, original PDF page 22. Source: https://ccrjustice.org/files/CCR_Annual_Report_2010.pdf#page=22
Sentencing date corrected October 12, 2026: In an original interview with legal and prisoner-support organizer Amanda Schemkes, she identifies Kevin Olliff as Kevin Johnson and confirms the completed February 29, 2016 three-year sentencing hearing. The incorrect July 7, 2014 sentence and unsupported matching admission date were corrected; the placeholder-derived duration was removed. The existing May 2016 month-level prison-to-halfway-house endpoint is retained with an explicit qualification, not promoted to an exact physical or BOP release date.
CCR's 2010 annual report describes an earlier California prosecution following Olliff's April 2009 arrest. It reports that a January 2010 pretrial ruling dismissed half of ten felony charges and rejected a gang enhancement, and that Olliff pleaded no contest to the remaining counts and was then in prison.
A Summer 2009 support update in Fire to the Prisons documents Olliff’s continued pretrial detention in the earlier UCLA/Pom campaign prosecution. It reports two counts of threats to an employee of a public educational institution, three counts of stalking and five counts of conspiracy, with a criminal-street-gang enhancement. It says he was denied bail because of parole status and was being held at TTCF in Los Angeles, under local prisoner number 1300931. This is distinct from the later Midwest fur-farm federal prosecution. The update describes a pending demurrer, not a completed disposition.
A contemporary prisoner update dates Olliff's arrest in the UCLA protest case to April 18, 2009, and states that he had not met bail and remained jailed awaiting trial. It supplies no verified release date for that pretrial stay.
The 2008 roster lists Olliff, California prisoner G12113, serving sixteen months for burglary, and alleges political targeting.
In Will Potter’s April 2014 report, Kevin Olliff and Tyler Lang were arrested in Illinois on August 15, 2013 after police found tools during a traffic-stop search. The report says Olliff received a thirty-month state sentence for possession of burglary tools and was then confined at Vandalia. This is distinct from his California campaign prosecution and later federal animal-enterprise case. Thirty months is the imposed sentence, not a verified completed term. Source.
A September 10, 2013 support update reports an Illinois indictment for possession of burglary tools. Later updates describe Olliff’s October 23–31 hunger strike against restrictions on incoming books, isolation late in that period, and the lifting of the book ban. These are supporters’ accounts of conditions during the state case, not an additional custody term or a change to his later federal sentence. The archive dates the initial traffic-stop arrest to late August 14; the August 15 date in other reporting remains unreconciled.
Contemporary support updates, September–November 2013, preserved in linksunten’s archive.
The government’s December 17, 2014 court filing expressly dates the federal animal-enterprise indictment against Kevin Johnson and Tyler Lang to July 8, 2014. DOJ’s July 10 announcement identifies Johnson as Kevin Olliff and distinguishes his existing Illinois state custody from the new federal indictment.
U.S. v. Johnson and Lang, government response, document 88, page 2; DOJ, July 10, 2014.
The joint appellate filing expressly identifies Kevin Johnson as Kevin Olliff. The judgment lists Michael E. Deutsch as defense counsel; the appellate cover and signature identify Rachel Meeropol and Deutsch, with Lillian McCartin also signing for Johnson. These defense and appellate roles are distinct from the government’s counsel. The filing gives the November 6, 2014 constitutional dismissal motion, February 19, 2015 argument, March 5 denial, and Johnson’s March 2, 2016 appeal; the May 9 brief requested reversal rather than reporting an appellate victory. Johnson/Lang joint brief, cover, procedural history, p.51 and appendix.
