One of the two Donald Trump supporters accused of plotting to firebomb Sacramento’s state Democratic headquarters building is asking a federal judge to accept a plea deal that would net him up to nine years in prison, and “begging you for a chance to redeem myself.”
In a four-page handwritten letter filed in court in San Francisco, Ian Benjamin Rogers begs Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to accept his word that he regrets his actions and deserves a chance to rebuild his life after prison.
“I am 47 years old,” Rogers wrote in a letter dated Oct. 7 and filed in court Wednesday. “I have never been in trouble before.
“I am begging you for a second chance. And, I’m begging you to believe me when I tell you that I know I was wrong, that I made a humongous mistake, and that I deserve to be punished.
“But, I’m also begging you for a chance to redeem myself and begging you to accept the plea agreement so that after I pay a huge price I can come out of prison and resume being a law-abiding, productive member of the community, a loving husband to my wife, and a doting father to my two precious sons.”
Plot was to avenge Trump’s loss to Joe Biden
Rogers, a Napa auto mechanic, was accused of plotting with Jarrod Copeland of Vallejo to blow up the John L. Burton Democratic Headquarters building in Sacramento as a protest against what they falsely believed was an election stolen by Democrats to hand the presidency to Joe Biden.
As part of the plot, an arsenal of machine guns and other firearms and bombs were assembled, court papers say, and the two men exchanged text messages discussing their plans.
Five days after the Jan. 6 insurrection — and a little over a week before Biden was inaugurated — Rogers texted Copeland, writing, “I want to blow up a democrat building bad,” according to a federal grand jury indictment.
Both men accepted plea deals, the Justice Department says, and the two are scheduled to face sentencing before Breyer on March 1 in federal court in San Francisco.
‘He regrets he was caught,’ judge said
But Rogers’ path to sentencing has been a torturous one, largely because of his own words.
He had been expected to be sentenced last Sept. 28 after accepting a plea deal that recommended a seven- to nine-year sentence.
His attorney, Colin Cooper, has argued that Rogers was a victim of excessive beer drinking and that his client regretted his actions.
But the judge put a halt to sentencing after reading statements Rogers made to U.S. probation officials that appeared to show Rogers expressing more concern over being caught than actually plotting the attack.
“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,” the judge said before refusing to accept the plea deal.
“His regret was that his conduct led to his arrest and disclosure of his activities,” Breyer said during the September hearing. “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.”
Plotter says he ‘made a colossal mistake’
Breyer ordered Rogers to be evaluated by a San Francisco psychiatrist, and a short time after that Rogers wrote his letter, telling the judge he was “distressed” that Breyer “felt my only regret was that I got caught.”
“I don’t blame you for interpreting my statements to mean that I only regretted getting caught,” Rogers wrote. “Nothing could be further from the truth.
“I made a colossal mistake owning illegal firearms, illegal explosives and communicating via text message with my co-defendant.
“At the time, I believed the election was stolen. 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.”
Rogers added that “not a day goes by where I don’t think about my illegal actions” and the impact they had on his family and friends.
I have let my kids down, my wife and my friends, because of what I did,” Rogers wrote. “I told them that what I did was wrong, that I will make up for my mistakes, and that I will spend my remaining days in life bettering myself and seeking redemption for what I did wrong.”
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