In surprise move, judge rejects plea deal in Bay Area man’s plot to ‘blow up a Democrat building’
SAN FRANCISCO — A plea deal that would have allowed a Napa man to serve seven to nine years for a plot to bomb the Democratic Party’s California headquarters was rejected by a judge, who said the defendant’s statements suggest he remains “a substantial danger to the community.”
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said at Wednesday’s hearing that he was concerned by Ian Benjamin Rogers’ statements, including telling probation officials that he felt very bad for putting himself in a situation “that allowed the government to destroy my life.”
Said Breyer: “In 23 years I’ve never seen that type of statement. I’ve never seen a defendant come in and simply say, ‘I regret I was caught.'”
Rogers, a 46-year-old auto mechanic, pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to destroy the building in Sacramento by fire or explosives, possessing an explosive device and possessing a machine gun. He watched from Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County as Wednesday’s San Francisco federal court proceedings were streamed on Zoom.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Cheng told the judge that prosecutors found the plea agreement appropriate because a building was not destroyed.
Breyer responded, “I don’t think we have to wait, in light of the Oklahoma City bombing. I don’t think we have to wait until a building is destroyed.”
The judge scheduled an Oct. 27 hearing to hear both sides’ justification before sentencing Rogers and his co-defendant, Jarrod Copeland.
“He had a map that he disseminated showing the exact location of the John Burton (Democratic Headquarters) building,” Breyer said of Rogers. “He had scoped it out and determined that the CHP and the fire department were in close proximity to that building. If you’re going to try to convince me that this is just talk, just speech … you’re going to have to address all those acts.”
Rogers’ attorney, Colin Cooper, told the judge his client “regrets terribly” participating in the plot and highlighted that he has never been in trouble with the law before.
He said he believed the sentencing agreement was appropriate “for someone who is middle-aged and has never been in trouble before.”
Rogers reportedly characterized his crime as “thinking about burning down a building in a drunken state.” He told investigators he did not want to hurt anybody except “people who are really causing problems in this world, like George Soros.”
U.S. prosecutors in San Francisco charged Rogers and Copeland with conspiring to attack targets they associated with Democrats after Trump’s defeat in the November 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors say Rogers used an encrypted messaging application to tell Copeland he would “hit the enemy in the mouth” by using Molotov cocktails and gasoline to attack targets including the Democratic Party headquarters, the Governor’s mansion and buildings for social media companies Facebook and Twitter.
“I want to blow up a democrat building bad,” Rogers wrote in one of the messaging apps he used to communicate with Copeland, according to the indictment. In a different message, he said that after Democratic President Joe Biden was inaugurated, “we go to war.”
Napa County Sheriff’s Office deputies secured search warrants after receiving an anonymous tip that Rogers possessed illegal guns and, after searching his home and auto repair shop on Jan. 15, 2021, seized nearly 50 firearms, including four fully automatic rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition and five pipe bombs, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors say that in late December 2020, Copeland — who at the time lived in Vallejo — told Rogers he contacted an anti-government militia group to gather support for their movement. After Rogers’s arrest the following month, they say Copeland communicated with a leader of a militia group who advised him to delete his old messages and switch to a new communication platform.
Copeland, 38, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and destruction of records. He has been in federal custody since his arrest in July 2021, and he is also scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 27.
The maximum statutory sentence for each man is 20 years imprisonment, a three-year term of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy charge. In addition, Rogers faces up to 10 years in prison for the weapons charges and Copeland faces up 20 years for destruction of evidence.
Rogers also faces possession of illegal firearms and bombs charges in Napa County. His next court hearing on the Napa County charges is scheduled for Oct. 4, his attorney said.