Man with pipe bombs may have plotted to harm Gov. Gavin Newsom, FBI says

A Napa County man FBI agents believe was targeting Gov. Gavin Newsom, Facebook and Twitter was charged Tuesday with illegally possessing homemade bombs, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Northern California.

The man, Ian Benjamin Rogers, was charged with unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device after investigators found five pipe bombs inside a gun safe in his business in Napa County.

Text messages on Rogers’ phone indicate he believed Donald Trump won the 2020 election and that he planned to “go to war” and attack Democrats “to ensure Trump remained in office,” FBI Special Agent Stephanie Minor wrote in the affidavit.

“I want to blow up a democrat building bad,” Rogers wrote in a text, according to the affidavit. “The democrats need to pay.”

In other messages, he wrote “I’m thinking sac office first target... Then maybe bird and face offices.”

In the affidavit, Minor wrote that she believes “sac office” references Newsom’s office in Sacramento, and that “bird and face offices” reference Twitter and Facebook’s headquarters because the social media companies blocked Trump from posting on their platforms.

Minor wrote that she believes a sticker on Rogers car showing the Roman numeral three surrounded by stars is a reference to an “extreme anti-government, pro-gun” group called the “Three-Percenters.”

Officers also found materials to make more explosives, including black powder, pipes and several instruction manuals, Minor wrote. They seized 49 firearms from Rogers’ home and business.

Rogers, 43, owns British Auto Repair of the Napa Valley, according to the Napa Valley Register.

“He has for 15 years been a very well-respected small business owner, father, and family man. He has been a positive, contributing member of the Napa community,” Rogers’ attorney Jess Raphael wrote in an email last week to the Register. “He does not belong to any organizations promoting or advocating violence. If he is a fan of Presidents Reagan and Trump, he is of the ranks of many tens of millions of Americans — almost exactly half of the United States.”

The Register reported Wednesday that Rogers’ attorney declined to comment on the new federal charges, but said the FBI raid was prompted by allegations by a “disgruntled former employee.”

In an interview with investigators following his arrest, Rogers said he made the bombs for entertainment purposes, according to the affidavit.

A spokeswoman for the governor’s office said, “We can confirm that the governor and our administration are aware of these allegations and cooperating with law enforcement and investigators.”

“The information contained in the federal criminal complaint regarding Ian Rodgers is an all too real reminder of the frightening consequences dangerous political rhetoric can have especially in emboldening violent extremism,” Newsom spokeswoman Sahar Robertson said in a written statement.

Officers arrested Rogers and searched his home and business on January 15. He has also been charged in Napa County on state illegal firearm charges.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, and the Napa Special Investigations Bureau conducted the search, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.

Rogers is being held in custody in lieu of a $5 million bail, according the U.S. Attorney’s Office.