2 get prison for plot to bomb Dem HQ
SAN FRANCISCO >> Two California men who pleaded guilty to plotting to firebomb the state Democratic Party’s headquarters and other buildings in Northern California after the defeat of former President Donald Trump were sentenced Wednesday to federal prison.
Ian Benjamin Rogers, of Napa, was sentenced to nine years in prison as part of a plea agreement. He pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to destroy the building in Sacramento by fire or explosives, possessing an explosive device and possessing a machine gun.
Rogers’ co-defendant, Jarrod Copeland, was sentenced to three years in prison after a brief closed hearing, the Sacramento Bee reported.
Roger’s sentencing comes six months after U.S. District Judge Charles E. Breyer initially rejected the proposed plea agreement, saying he was concerned that Rogers hadn’t shown any remorse for his actions when he told probation officials for a presentencing report that he felt bad for putting himself in a situation “that allowed the government to destroy my life.” Breyer said he was concerned Rogers could pose a danger to society.
Breyer ordered Rogers to undergo a psychiatric examination before deciding on a sentence.
During the sentencing hearing Wednesday, the judge said a University of California, San Francisco psychiatrist who examined Rogers found the former auto repair shop owner could be a productive member of society if he underwent treatment for his alcoholism.
Breyer said he took into consideration that report and a three-page handwritten letter submitted by Rogers after his initial sentencing hearing that the judge said he found “sincere” when deciding to accept the plea deal that called for a sentence of seven to nine years in federal prison.
“At the time, I believed the election was stolen,” Rogers wrote in his letter to the judge. “At the time, I believed things said by the Trump administration. At the time, I was in a dark place in my life and I was abusing alcohol and acting out, in part, because of it. I was wrong in my thinking.”