Wisconsin Man Charged with pro-life pregnancy center Firebombing

[CivilDiscourse]

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wisconsin-man-charged-firebombing-building

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, March 28, 2023Wisconsin Man Charged with Firebombing Building

Defendant Arrested in Boston Today

A Wisconsin man was arrested today on a charge related to the May 2022 firebombing of a Madison office building.

According to court documents, Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, of Madison, is charged with one count of attempting to cause damage by means of fire or an explosive. Roychowdhury was arrested earlier today in Boston.

“According to the complaint, Mr. Roychowdhury used an incendiary device in violation of federal law in connection with his efforts to terrorize and intimidate a private organization,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “I commend the commitment and professionalism of law enforcement personnel who worked exhaustively to ensure that justice is served.”

“This group of local and federal law enforcement officers has worked, with the federal prosecutors, diligently and creatively to move the investigation forward,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea for the Western District of Wisconsin. “This case is an example of the results law enforcement can achieve when local and federal law investigators work as a team.”

“Violence is never an acceptable way for anyone to express their views or their disagreement,” said Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “Today’s arrest demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to vigorously pursue those responsible for this dangerous attack and others across the country, and to hold them accountable for their criminal actions.”

According to the complaint, on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 8, 2022, at approximately 6:06 a.m., law enforcement responded to an active fire at an office building located in Madison, Wisconsin. Once inside the building, police observed a mason jar under a broken window; the jar was broken, and the lid and screw top were burned black. The police also saw a purple disposable lighter near the mason jar. On the opposite wall from the window, the police saw another mason jar with the lid on and a blue cloth tucked into the top; the cloth was singed. The jar was about half full of a clear fluid that smelled like an accelerant. Outside of the building, someone spray painted on one wall, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” and, on another wall, a large “A” with a circle around it and the number “1312.” During the investigation, law enforcement collected DNA from the scene of the attack.

In March 2023, law enforcement identified Roychowdhury as a possible suspect. Local police officers observed Roychowdhury dispose of food in a public trash can; the officers recovered the leftover food and related items, and law enforcement collected DNA from the food. On March 17, 2023, law enforcement advised that a forensic biologist examined the DNA evidence recovered from the attack scene and compared it to the DNA collected from the food contents. The forensic biologist found the two samples matched and likely were the same individual.

In March 2023, Roychowdhury travelled from Madison, Wisconsin, to Portland, Maine, and he purchased a one-way ticket from Boston to Guatemala City, departing this morning. Law enforcement arrested Roychowdhury at Boston Logan International Airport. Roychowdhury will have a detention hearing in Boston.

Roychowdhury is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Boston today. A date for his appearance in federal court in Madison has not been set.

If convicted, Roychowdhury faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The Madison Police Department, Wisconsin State Capitol Police Department, ATF, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland Security Investigations, Dane County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case, with assistance provided by the FBI Boston Field Office, Boston Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Air Marshal Service, and Transportation Security Administration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman for the Western District of Wisconsin and Trial Attorney Justin Sher of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Beck for the District of Massachusetts handled the appearance in Boston.

A complaint is merely an allegation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

© Copyright Original Source

[rogue06]

Exactly what sort of penalty is there for someone is charged with pro-life pregnancy center?

[CivilDiscourse]

Exactly what sort of penalty is there for someone is charged with pro-life pregnancy center?

5 to 20 years :) Apparently I deleted the word firebombing from the original headline.

"Would you kindly" fix that for me?

[Cow Poke]

5 to 20 years :) Apparently I deleted the word firebombing from the original headline.

"Would you kindly" fix that for me?

[CivilDiscourse]

[Ronson]

“Violence is never an acceptable way for anyone to express their views or their disagreement,” said Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “Today’s arrest demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to vigorously pursue those responsible for this dangerous attack and others across the country, and to hold them accountable for their criminal actions.”

Boy, does that ever sound like a press release. State the obvious and nothing specific

But I am happy to see that the grassroots of that agency is capable of accomplishing something that runs counter to the administration's politics. Now, if they can only find where they put Hunter's laptop ....

[rogue06]

When I fixed it the title was still the same but after I entered my password to approve the change it now reads

Wisconsin Man Charged with fire-bombing pro-life pregnancy center Firebombing



I'm so tempted to leave it, but I haven't done my good deed for the month

[Cow Poke]

When I fixed it the title was still the same but after I entered my password to approve the change it now reads

Wisconsin Man Charged with fire-bombing pro-life pregnancy center Firebombing



I'm so tempted to leave it, but I haven't done my good deed for the month

Should I make it even worser?

[rogue06]

“Violence is never an acceptable way for anyone to express their views or their disagreement,” said Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division. “Today’s arrest demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to vigorously pursue those responsible for this dangerous attack and others across the country, and to hold them accountable for their criminal actions.”

Boy, does that ever sound like a press release. State the obvious and nothing specific

But I am happy to see that the grassroots of that agency is capable of accomplishing something that runs counter to the administration's politics. Now, if they can only find where they put Hunter's laptop ....

Yup. AG Garland (boy did we dodge a bullet keeping that turd off the SCOTUS ) claimed those attacks couldn't be solved because they took place at night.

Did I mention how we dodged a bullet by keeping that turd off the SCOTUS?

[Ronson]

Yup. AG Garland (boy did we dodge a bullet keeping that turd off the SCOTUS ) claimed those attacks couldn't be solved because they took place at night.

Did I mention how we dodged a bullet by keeping that turd off the SCOTUS?

I am almost suspicious that this arrest was meant to pacify FBI critics, but it's apparently the result of a long-term investigation. The timing and the fanfare is still oddly coincidental.

[CivilDiscourse]

Yup. AG Garland (boy did we dodge a bullet keeping that turd off the SCOTUS ) claimed those attacks couldn't be solved because they took place at night.

Did I mention how we dodged a bullet by keeping that turd off the SCOTUS?

I looked into what he actually said, and his response was more nuanced than what you said.

He was asked why there were more prosecutions for blocking abortion centers, than there were firebombings or pro-life centers.

His response is fairly accurate.

In blocking abortion centers, those are done during business hours, around witnesses, around people with cameras taking photos. In other words, people blocking abortion centers are easy to identify and prosecute because of the abundance of evidence.

Those firebombing the pro-life centers are doing so at night, after hours, with few witnesses. The amount of work needed to find those perpetrators is harder because the amount of easily usable evidence ls just (pun intended) night and day.

Source: https://pregnancyhelpnews.com/garland-suggests-justice-department-can-t-arrest-pro-abortion-vandals-because-they-firebomb-pregnancy-centers-at-night

“In 2022 and for the first couple of months of 2023, DOJ’s announced charges against 34 individuals for blocking access to or vandalizing abortion clinics, and there have been over 81 recorded attacks on pregnancy centers, 130 attacks on Catholic churches since the leak of the Dobbs decision, and only two individuals have been charged,” Lee noted.

“So, how do you explain this disparity by reference to anything other than politicization of what’s happening there?” Lee asked.

Garland noted that the FACE Act applies to protect both abortion centers and pregnancy resource centers.

“I will say you are quite right. There are many more prosecutions with respect to the blocking of the abortion centers, but that is generally because those actions are taken with photography at the time, during the daylight, and seeing the person who did it is quite easy,” the attorney general said.

“Those who are attacking the pregnancy resource centers, which is a horrid thing to do, are doing this at night, in the dark,” Garland added. “We have put full resources on this. We have put rewards out for this. The Justice Department and the FBI have made outreach to Catholic and other organizations to ask for their help in identifying the people who are doing this.”

“We will prosecute every case against a pregnancy resource center that we can make, but these people doing this are clever and are doing it in secret. I am convinced that the FBI is trying to find them with urgency,” he added.

© Copyright Original Source

[CivilDiscourse]

I am almost suspicious that this arrest was meant to pacify FBI critics, but it's apparently the result of a long-term investigation. The timing and the fanfare is still oddly coincidental.

I saw the news article not too long ago, but this press release was back in march.

[Cow Poke]

Yup. AG Garland (boy did we dodge a bullet keeping that turd off the SCOTUS ) claimed those attacks couldn't be solved because they took place at night.

Did I mention how we dodged a bullet by keeping that turd off the SCOTUS?

Can you even imagine how things would be if Garland had made it to SCOTUS?

[mossrose]

Where are the rest of the arrests for all the others involved in these?

[Mountain Man]

It's about time someone was held accountable for the violence being perpetrated against pregnancy support clinics. Although it's interesting that the official release seems to go out of its way to describe the target as a nondescript office building without identifying the business that was actually attacked.