Plot to Blow Up Democratic Headquarters Exposed California Extremists Hiding in Plain Sight | KQED
A look inside how two Bay Area men came to plot a mass casualty event.
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, was 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, gym and 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 destruction of records in official proceedings charge for allegedly destroying evidence of his communication with Rogers.
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."
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 interview their clients, pending a final decision in their case.
What emerged is a portrait of friends united by rage who found community within an obscure anti-government militia. But one kept his affiliation quiet, while the other proudly displayed his allegiance with a bumper sticker on his truck. Together, they allegedly hatched a violent plan that they hoped would spark more violence.
Jon Blair, the assistant special agent in charge of counterterrorism at the FBI's San Francisco field office, which investigated Rogers and Copeland, would not comment on the case, but said it's not just the number of incidents that has gone up in California, but also the number of people involved and the severity of violence.
"There are actors who are predisposed towards these acts of violence, who are violating federal law and who are adhering to ideology," Blair said. "They didn't just come into existence after 2020, right? I do think they were a little more emboldened now because the rhetoric has become so pervasive and so loud in our culture."
