A federal prosecutor seeking to hold the man accused of setting a fire at the Burlington office of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is highlighting an incident last summer in which law enforcement officials in another state seized an AK-47 from his vehicle.
In a five-page motion filed ahead of Thursday’s detention hearing for Shant Michael Soghomonian, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher described him as a flight risk and a danger to the public if released.
“His demonstrated willingness to place lives in danger through the use of fire in an occupied building is a clear concern,” the prosecutor wrote of Soghomonian.
To strengthen his case, Lasher cited an August 2023 incident in which Soghomonian was stopped for a traffic violation by Illinois State Police. Troopers then seized an AK-47 rifle with two magazines, along with 11.5 grams of cannabis, from his vehicle.
“He told a trooper that he did not have weapons in his vehicle, despite the rifle in his truck,” the prosecutor wrote.
Also found in the vehicle, according to Lasher, was the book, “How to Blow up a Pipeline.” Despite its title, the 2021 book by Andreas Malm does not, in fact, provide instructions to carry out such an act. Rather, according to the Washington Post, it “criticizes climate activists’ commitment to pacifism, and argues for the adoption of strategic property destruction as a tactic.”
During the Illinois traffic stop, Soghomonian identified himself with an Oregon driver’s license that was later found invalid and told authorities he was traveling from the West Coast, according to the filing.
“Subsequent records checks indicated the defendant’s vehicle had been in New York, then Chicago, then California, and then Pennsylvania all within August 2023,” Lasher wrote.
“In other words,” the prosecutor wrote in his filing, “defendant has a history of itinerancy, firearms possession, and lack of candor with law enforcement, all exacerbating his risk of flight and undermining his appropriateness for effective supervision.”
There is no indication in Lasher’s filing if authorities brought charges against Soghomonian in connection with the Illinois traffic stop.
Lasher’s filing also asserted that in 2005, while Soghomonian was a juvenile in his mid-teens, he was arrested for an alleged assault involving a firearm on a person in Glendale, California.
The prosecutor added, “the case appears to have been later dismissed in part in the ‘furtherance of justice’ on some counts and to have resulted in the imposition of wardship on others.”
No court filings by the prosecution, including the latest detention motion, provided any indication of a motive in the Burlington arson, and Soghomonian did not give a statement to authorities. Instead, he asked to speak with a lawyer.
Soghomonian was arrested Sunday on a federal charge of using fire to damage a building used in interstate commerce stemming from the alleged arson Friday at Sanders’ Church Street Senate office.
Soghomonian made an initial appearance Tuesday in federal court in Burlington and a hearing has been set for Thursday afternoon to determine whether he will remain in custody while the case against him is pending.
Sanders was not in the office at the time of the fire, although seven staff members were present. No one was physically injured in the fire, police said. The historic building did sustain water damage and the door was charred by the fire.
Lasher, in his detention motion, said that he needed time to further research Soghomonian’s residential and employment history.
However, based on the investigation so far, the prosecutor wrote, Soghomonian appears to have been a “temporary resident in a Chittenden County hotel” between February and his arrest Sunday.
“The only data available regarding his criminal history suggest he would continue his mobile and itinerant past,” Lasher wrote. “Accordingly, the defendant’s history and characteristics weigh in favor of detention.”
Barclay Johnson, a federal public defender representing Soghomonian, could not be reached Wednesday afternoon for comment.