Judge refuses plea deal for man who plotted to blow up Sacramento Democratic building

Ian Benjamin Rogers may have started out Wednesday thinking he was facing a seven- to nine-year sentence for plotting to blow up the Sacramento Democratic Party headquarters last year, but the judge in the case had a different idea.

In a surprise move, Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer refused to accept the plea deal worked out over months of negotiations, saying Rogers’ conduct was so dangerous he wanted both lawyers in the case to return to court next month to justify the plea deal.

Breyer focused on statements Rogers gave to U.S. probation officials compiling a pre-sentence report on him in which Rogers appeared to express more concern about getting caught than his actual plot.

“I feel very bad for putting myself in a bad situation that allowed the government to destroy my life,” Rogers told probation, according to the judge.

He also said, “I accept responsibility for having in my possession illegal weapons and thinking about burning down a building in a drunken state,” according to the judge.

“His regret was that his conduct led to his arrest and disclosure of his activities,” the judge said. “And now the government was taking action against him. That’s his regret.

“Putting it another way, he regrets he was caught. I have to say, in 23 years I’ve never seen that type of statement. I’ve never seen a defendant come in and say I regret I was caught.”

The judge, conducting the San Francisco federal court hearing by Zoom as the 46-year-old former auto mechanic from Napa watched silently from the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County, ordered Rogers and the attorneys to return to court — in person — on Oct. 27 to justify the plea deal.

Rogers’ attorney, Colin Cooper, has argued that his client’s actions were beer-fueled talk by Rogers and that he “regrets his conduct terribly.”

Cooper said he had “worried about this case and the atmospherics of it from the moment I met Mr. Rogers,” and added that he had many “sleepless nights about whether your honor was going to accept this plea agreement.”

But he added that the recommended punishment of seven to nine years was appropriate “for someone who is middle aged and has never been in trouble before.”

Breyer wasn’t buying it, noting that when law enforcement searched Rogers house and business they found five operable pipe bombs and 48 firearms - including four machine guns.

“He had an arsenal that would be the envy of the Ukrainian people,” the judge said. “He had a map that he disseminated showing the exact location of the John Burton (Democratic Headquarters) building.

“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.”

The judge also read text messages between Rogers and Jarrod Copeland that were retrieved from Rogers’ cell phone by the FBI that showed the extent of the planning, including these texts from Rogers:

“I want to blow up a democrat building bad,” and “the dems need to pay.”

“As we see from his constant communications with his co-defendant, he was actively plannig this attack,” the judge said.

Rogers, who was indicted along with Copeland, a Bay Area man who was arrested at a Sacramento apartment he shared with his wife, have both entered pleas in the case and are now both scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 27.

Rogers and Copeland were accused by the FBI of plotting to attack a variety of targets, and concocting a plan to bomb the Democratic headquarters building in Sacramento because of their anger over President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in November 2020.

Rogers’ attorney argued in court papers that it was all talk fueled by Rogers’ excessive beer drinking, and Rogers alluded to his drinking after his arrest last year that was sparked by a search of his home thanks to a tip law enforcement received.

“During a videotaped interview after Rogers’ arrest, a Napa Sheriff’s detective asked him if he had any plans to attack anyone,” prosecutors wrote. “Rogers said, ‘I’ve thought about it.’”

“I’ve thought about fighting against, fighting back against the government. But it’s always when I’m inebriated. You wake up and you go, ‘It’s not a good idea.’”

Rogers told authorities he did not want to hurt any innocent people, unless “maybe if you could attack the right people ... people who are really causing problems in this world, like (Democratic donor) George Soros.”