Joe is an alleged member of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, was arrested in Cuba in August 2018 and is now being held in Oregon. He is facing federal criminal charges in Oregon, California, and Washington related to acts of economic sabotage against a horsemeat-packing facility, an old-growth timber company, and other operations harming animals and the environment. He “disappeared” in 2005 before a federal grand jury indicted Dibee and 12 others as part of Operation Backfire, an FBI investigation into animal and earth liberation groups.

In spring of 2022, Joe pleaded guilty in two of those arsons, a slaughterhouse in central Oregon that butchered wild horses and sold the meat in Europe and a Bureau of Land Management horse corral in Northern California. After his arrest, Dibee spent 29 months in pre-trial custody, followed by home detention. U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken sentenced Dibee to time served and 1,000 hours of community service.