XPost: talk.politics.guns, ca.politics, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: drooler@gmail.com   
      
   Y   
      
   ears before law enforcement seized the contents of Ian Rogers’ safe, he   
   earned a reputation as a talented mechanic and successful Napa Valley   
   business owner. Rogers catered to an elite clientele of Jaguar, Land Rover   
   and Rolls-Royce owners inside a garage off Napa’s main drag, a street   
   spotted with boutiques and high-end bed and breakfasts.   
      
   The 47-year-old from Sonoma County, who appeared to have a passion for   
   guns, according to Facebook posts where he dissed prominent Democrats, was   
   also a loving husband and father who paid his bills on time, according to   
   his family and friends.   
      
   In the fall of 2020, in the weeks after Joe Biden was declared the next   
   president of the United States, Rogers sent an ominous text to someone he   
   trusted, according to court records.   
      
   “Ok bro we need to hit the enemy in the mouth,” he messaged.   
      
   “Yeah so we punch Soros,” Rogers’ former employee and gym buddy, Jarrod   
   Copeland, texted back, referring to billionaire investor George Soros.   
      
   Copeland, a Kentucky native, had been a mechanic at Rogers’ shop nearly a   
   decade earlier.   
      
   “I think right now we attack democrats. They’re offices etc. Molotov   
   cocktails and gasoline,” Rogers continued.   
      
   Copeland replied, “We need more people bro. Gonna be hard.”   
      
   The day after Thanksgiving, the chatter kindled a plan. Text messages   
   contained in court records show the two men agreed to burn down the   
   headquarters of the California Democratic Party in Sacramento, a building   
   diagonal to the California Highway Patrol office tasked with protecting   
   state lawmakers and daily visitors to the Capitol. Also nearby: a youth   
   center, a gym and a popular bookstore.   
      
   Rogers: sent link to the address of the California Democratic Party   
   office…   
   Copeland: Right next to CHP   
   Copeland: gotta be cautious   
   Rogers: Only takes 3 minutes   
   Rogers: Take a brick break a window pour gas in and light   
      
   The two men texted that they hoped hitting that particular target would   
   send a message and ignite a movement. They viewed themselves as action-   
   film heroes, referencing “The Expendables,” a popular movie franchise.   
      
   Rogers: Scare the whole country   
   Rogers: Can you imagine cnn covering this haha !   
   Rogers: I’ll leave a envelope with our demands and intentions   
   Rogers: Basically saying we declare war on the Democratic Party and all   
   traitors to the republic.   
   Copeland: That’s some expendables stuff.   
   Rogers: We need to send a message   
   Copeland: Yep I agree   
   Rogers: Start a movement   
      
   On Jan. 8, 2021, the two acknowledged they might die carrying out their   
   plan. Rogers asked Copeland if he was ready to leave his wife.   
      
   Rogers: What I’m talking about we probably will die unfortunately   
   Copeland: She was crying yesterday and said to me “please don’t leave me I   
   don’t know what to do without you” she was rubbing my back while I was   
   watching...   
   Copeland: She knows how i run and she knows I will put myself in harms way   
   for what I believe in   
      
   It never came to that.   
      
   Rogers and Copeland were arrested in January and July of 2021,   
   respectively, according to court records.   
      
   The two are charged in federal court with conspiracy to destroy by fire or   
   explosive a building used in interstate commerce, with Copeland facing an   
   additional charge of destruction of records in official proceedings for   
   allegedly destroying evidence of his communication with Rogers.   
      
   The Napa County District Attorney’s Office also is prosecuting Rogers, for   
   28 felony counts over the numerous pipe bombs, and unregistered assault   
   rifles authorities allegedly discovered inside his business, home and RV.   
   He is also being charged with converting firearms into machine guns.   
      
   If the case goes to trial, Rogers faces a statutory maximum of 45 years in   
   prison. Copeland faces a statutory maximum of 25 years, if convicted on   
   all charges.   
      
   Their attorneys have been negotiating plea bargains over their alleged   
   involvement for months.   
      
   Copeland has entered a no-contest plea and is awaiting sentencing, his   
   attorney, John Ambrosio, said.   
      
   “He’s going to pay his debt and he’s taken responsibility,” Ambrosio   
   added. “And we’re just waiting to see exactly what his punishment is going   
   to be.”   
      
   Part of a surge in domestic extremism   
   Rogers and Copeland’s case is part of a surge in violent extremist   
   activity the FBI is investigating in Northern California and throughout   
   the nation.   
      
   Federal law defines domestic terrorism as “acts dangerous to human life”   
   that violate state or federal criminal law, and appear to be an attempt to   
   “influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion” or   
   “affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or   
   kidnapping.”   
      
   Since the spring of 2020, the number of FBI investigations of suspected   
   domestic extremists has more than doubled, according to the U.S.   
   Department of Justice.   
      
   And just over a year after hundreds of people stormed the United States   
   Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to stop the certification of the   
   presidential election, the DOJ announced it was creating a special unit to   
   address “the threat posed by domestic extremism.”   
      
   The Justice Department arrested and charged more than 725 people for their   
   alleged involvement in the insurrection. KQED found that at least 40 were   
   from California, including Evan Neumann, a Mill Valley resident charged   
   with 14 counts, including assaulting Capitol police. Neumann fled to   
   Europe, crossing through prewar Ukraine and successfully claiming asylum   
   in Belarus, according to The Washington Post.   
      
   In February, a sergeant at Travis Air Force Base allegedly aligned with   
   boogaloo adherents in Turlock, part of a loose-knit anti-government group   
   trying to ignite a civil war, entered a guilty plea for gunning down a   
   federal officer in Oakland during a 2020 protest over police violence.   
   He's also accused of murdering a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy a week   
   later.   
      
   And just last month, an Orange County man was arrested for allegedly   
   threatening to bomb the headquarters of Merriam-Webster, the dictionary   
   publisher, because he was upset by the company’s definition of “female.”   
   According to The Washington Post, the man has allegedly been sending   
   threatening messages since 2014, and the FBI interviewed him in 2015 and   
   in October.   
      
   Amid growing concerns of potential extremist violence, the FBI and local   
   police recently held a town hall in Modesto, urging residents to report   
   possible domestic extremist threats.   
      
   United by rage   
   In an attempt to understand why two Bay Area men allegedly conspired to   
   blow up a Sacramento building, KQED’s reporters visited the places where   
   Rogers and Copeland worked, reviewed hundreds of pages of court documents   
   and public records and interviewed more than a dozen people, including   
   family members. Copeland and Rogers' attorneys refused requests to   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)