Vallejo man accused of Sacramento bomb plot moved after police contact
Image: Jarrod Copeland appears in an undated photograph. (Graphic by Solano NewsNet)
A former Vallejo resident who was accused of conspiring with a Napa County man to bomb the headquarters of the Democratic Party in Sacramento recently moved to the capital region after federal law enforcement officials made contact with him earlier this month, Solano NewsNet has learned.
In an indictment unsealed this week, a federal grand jury said Jarrod Copeland, 37, and another man, 45-year-old Napa resident Ian Rogers, were so incensed by former President Donald Trump’s election loss that they plotted to attack and destroy at least three targets, including the Sacramento building.
The conspiracy began last November when Rogers and Copeland used online messaging services to concoct a plan to attack various targets that they deemed were politically unfavorable, according to the indictment.
In January, the men settled on the John L. Burton Democratic Headquarters in Sacramento and discussed various obstacles that needed to be overcome in order to make their attack successful, the indictment said.
Those obstacles included locating and avoiding a nearby California Highway Patrol office and ensuring they had enough explosive and firepower to overcome any responding fire protection crews that would be dispatched to the scene in the minutes after the planned attack, court records showed.
Both men sought to attack the headquarters of the Democratic Party in California on Inauguration Day and concocted plans to attack the offices of Twitter and Facebook in the San Francisco Bay Area shortly after, assuming they were not killed in the first incident, the records revealed.
Spurred by a citizen tip, deputies in Napa County arrested Rogers just days before the presidential inauguration. They seized a cache of weapons, ammunition and at least five pipe bombs along with other materials.
Copeland was notified about Rogers’ arrest through news media reports, according to court records that were published by the website Open Vallejo on Friday. Both men belonged to an underground militia group, prosecutors say, and Copeland was encouraged by a fellow member to delete text messages and other material from his phone and computer before police could learn of their plot.
But by then, it was already too late. Federal authorities had everything they needed from Rogers’ phone, which was seized during his arrest. A search warrant was issued on Copeland’s Vallejo home a short time later.
Despite the severity of the alleged crime, federal officials allowed Copeland to remain free for almost six months after their initial contact while they worked to build a case against him. During that time period, Copeland moved from his Vallejo apartment to one in Arden-Arcade, an unincorporated community in Sacramento County just a few miles away from the Democratic Headquarters.
A federal law enforcement source told Solano NewsNet that while Copeland was free to move about, he was under surveillance “nearly the entire time.”
“His phone and Internet activity was being watched — it’s not like he was not being watched,” the law enforcement source affirmed, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.
A Military Deserter and Steroid Abuser
This week, federal prosecutors asked for permission to detain Copeland before he is able to answer to the charges and face trial.
As part of their request, prosecutors admitted Copeland had a steady source of income, stable residence and no prior criminal history — but they asserted his past was not unblemished.
In 2013, Copeland enlisted in the U.S. Army and was sent to basic training in January 2014. Four months later, he was arrested for desertion, prosecutors said. He was discharged from the military in 2016 after a second case of desertion, they alleged.
After his short military career ended, Copeland joined a new militia: the “Three Percenters” movement, which advocates “armed rebellion against the federal government,” prosecutors said.
He was more successful with the underground militia group than he was in the military: “[While] Copeland deserted from his U.S. military unit, he has ascended the ranks within the militia group,” a federal prosecutor wrote.
“Copeland’s membership in an anti-government militia, and his motivations for planning these attacks, are relevant because they are not fleeting or the product of a single, but past, perceived affront,” the prosecutor wrote. “His sentiments are deeply felt and long-standing, and reflect a belief that the government is illegitimate. He is not likely to obey the rules imposed on him by someone he views as part of a tyrannical government.”
Prosecutors also pointed to an apparent abuse of illegal steroids by both Copeland and Rogers, accusing both men of purchasing around $1,200 worth of product in December of last year.
Police recovered Copeland’s portion of the steroids when they searched his Vallejo home earlier this year, prosecutors said. When federal law enforcement arrested him earlier this week, they found more steroids at his home, suggesting Copeland “replenished his stock,” they said.
“Steroids increase irritability and aggression,” prosecutors wrote, citing a federal study that indicated the same. “Copeland used steroids to get bigger…he told Rogers, following another discussion about the political situation in the United States, that ‘the [steroids] make me very angry.’”
Copeland is expected to make his first court appearance next Tuesday. If convicted, he could face more than two decades in federal prison.
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