Ex-Vallejo resident accused of Sacramento bomb conspiracy to remain jailed
(Graphic by Solano NewsNet)
Jarrod Copeland was minutes away from being set free this week — until his wife made a last-minute decision.
Copeland, 37, is the former Vallejo resident accused of plotting to blow up the Sacramento-based state headquarters of the Democrat Party with a Napa County man who was arrested earlier this year.
In January, police visited Copeland at his home in Vallejo and interviewed him about the conspiracy. An unsealed federal indictment said Copeland and his alleged co-conspirator, 45-year-old Ian Rogers of Napa County, drafted plans to bomb several buildings, including the political office in Sacramento, as part of a revenge scheme following former President Donald Trump’s election loss.
Copeland was arrested at his Sacramento County apartment last week. He has been in custody at a jail in Alameda County while the judicial process plays out.
The first step in that process was a court hearing this week, during which a federal magistrate judge asked his wife, Sheila Copeland, if she would be willing to take responsibility for her husband should he be set free while he awaits trial.
His wife affirmed, only to change her mind at the last minute when the judge said she would be responsible for reporting any pre-trial release violations to court — and warned that her failure to do so could land her behind bars, too.
“She is wanting to represent to the court that she is not comfortable with that responsibility,” Copeland’s attorney, John Ambrosio, told the judge.
Ambrosio said Copeland’s wife preferred if another guardian could be found to keep tabs on her husband. Until one is located and appointed by the court, Copeland will remain in custody.
Federal investigators say Copeland and Rogers for months held conversations on encrypted messaging apps where they conspired to carry out their revenge attacks against certain targets, including the headquarters of social media companies Facebook and Twitter.
A tip earlier this year prompted deputies in Napa County to arrest Rogers. A search warrant executed on his home and business led to the discovery of a large stockpile of guns, ammunition and at least five pipe bombs.
Deputies seized Rogers’ phone, and a subsequent warrant on that device turned up text messages between the two men outlining the alleged conspiracy, investigators affirmed.
More guns were discovered when a similar warrant was executed against Copeland’s Vallejo home shortly after Rogers’ arrest. Copeland’s phone was also seized, but by then, the man had been instructed by an underground militia group to delete all records of his conversations with Copeland about the conspiracy and to switch messaging apps, which he purportedly did.
Ambrosio said Copeland was never serious about going through with the bomb plot, and likened the conversations to two macho guys who were upset after their favorite football team lost a big game.
“[They] were letting off some steam — albeit, very dangerous steam,” Ambrosio said.
Copeland’s wife echoed that sentiment, saying her husband and Rogers were “two guys just acting macho.”
Federal prosecutors say the conversations between the two men were nothing like macho guys venting after a football game.
“A domestic terrorism offense is unlike most other offenses, because the defendants are politically motivated,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Riebli told the court on Tuesday.
Riebli admitted that domestic terrorists are often missed by federal law enforcement officers, which makes the present case especially compelling.
“That’s why these guys are so dangerous,” he said. “They popped up out of nowhere.”
Though Vallejo and Sacramento fall within the federal Eastern District of California, Copeland and Rogers are being tried separately for the same offenses in the Northern District of California, which includes Napa County where Rogers lived. The case is being heard in San Francisco.
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