The man charged with starting a fire in front of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Vermont office a week ago has a history of violating gun laws and is known to have traveled extensively. Prosecutors argued in court filings that he should remain in custody.
According to an affidavit filed by a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Michael Soghomonian appeared to dump a liquid at the bottom of a door on Sanders’ third-floor office in Burlington last Friday and then set it on fire with a lighter. It was seen on surveillance video. Tobacco, firearms and explosives.
The seven employees working in the office at the time were not injured and were able to evacuate. The interior of the building suffered damage from fire and sprinklers. Sanders, an independent, was not in office at the time.
Man arrested on suspicion of setting fire to Bernie Sanders’ office
Soghomonian, 35, of Northridge, Calif., had been staying at the South Burlington hotel for nearly two months and was found outside Sanders’ office the day before and the day of the fire, according to the special agent’s report. It is said that
He is charged with maliciously causing damage by arson to a building used for interstate commerce and used as a venue for activities affecting interstate commerce. Mr. Sogomonian is currently in custody. He was scheduled for a detention hearing Thursday, but it was postponed to next week. The Associated Press left a phone message seeking comment from his public defender.
FILE – Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a hearing at the Capitol on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Prosecutors have argued that Sogomonian should remain in custody because he is a danger to the community and a flight risk.
“The danger to the structure of the building and the lives of its occupants is significant and demonstrates the defendant’s disregard for the safety of the building’s occupants and the community at large,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher wrote in a court motion. I mentioned it in. “The defendant then fled the area to avoid detection and arrest.”
Prosecutors say Illinois state troopers who stopped Soghomonian for a traffic violation in August found an AK-47 rifle, two magazines, 11.5 grams of marijuana and a book entitled “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” in his car. books were confiscated. The book is “an impassioned call for the climate movement to escalate its tactics in the face of ecological collapse.”
Prosecutors said Sogomonian presented an invalid Oregon driver’s license during the traffic stop. He told police he was traveling to the West Coast. Lasher wrote in his petition that in August alone his car was in New York, then Illinois, California and Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors say Soghomonian was in his mid-teens in 2005 when he was taken into custody in Glendale, Calif., on suspicion of assault with a firearm, which was later dismissed.
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“In other words, the defendant has a criminal history, firearm possession, and lack of candor with law enforcement, all of which exacerbate his flight risk,” Lasher wrote.
