Ian Benjamin Rogers, Conspiracy to Destroy by Fire or Explosive, California 2021

Two California men, Ian Benjamin Rogers, 45, of Napa, and Jarrod Copeland, 37, of Vallejo, have been charged with conspiracy to destroy a building affecting interstate commerce, and related crimes, in a scheme to attack the John L. Burton Democratic Headquarters in Sacramento.

According to court documents, Rogers and Copeland began planning to attack targets they associated with Democrats after the 2020 Presidential election and sought support from an anti-government militia group. The indictment alleges that the defendants planned to use incendiary devices to attack their targets and hoped their attacks would prompt a movement.

“Firebombing your perceived political opponents is illegal and does not nurture the sort of open and vigorous debate that created and supports our constitutional democracy,” said U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds.

The indictment describes how Copeland and Rogers used multiple messaging applications and discussed the attacks on numerous occasions. For example, in late December 2020, Copeland told Rogers he contacted an anti-government militia group to gather support for the movement and in January 2021, Rogers told Copeland “I want to blow up a democrat building bad.”

The defendants agreed to start with the Democratic Headquarters in Sacramento and to “see what happens.” In one exchange, Rogers wrote to Copeland, “after the 20th we go to war,” meaning that they would initiate acts of violence after the inauguration on January 20, 2021.

On January 15, just four days after that exchange and five days before the trigger that Rogers and Copeland identified as the start of their campaign of violence, law enforcement officers searched Rogers’s home and business and seized a cache of weapons from Rogers’s home, including 45 to 50 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and five pipe bombs.

Rogers and Copeland are both charged with conspiracy to destroy by fire or explosive a building used or in affecting interstate commerce. Rogers is charged with additional weapons violations, including one count of possession of unregistered destructive devices, and three counts of possession of machine guns. Copeland is charged with an additional count of destruction of records. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and a three-year supervised release term.

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