{"id":105060,"date":"2024-04-08T00:04:24","date_gmt":"2024-04-08T00:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/suspect-in-fire-at-sen-bernie-sanders-vermont-office-hit-with-federal-charges\/"},"modified":"2024-04-08T00:04:24","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T00:04:24","slug":"suspect-in-fire-at-sen-bernie-sanders-vermont-office-hit-with-federal-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/suspect-in-fire-at-sen-bernie-sanders-vermont-office-hit-with-federal-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect in fire at Sen. Bernie Sander&#8217;s Vermont office hit with federal charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2024-04-07\/040724_WVNY_SandersOffice.jpg\" alt><figcaption>WVNY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Federal charges were filed Sunday against a 35-year-old man who allegedly set fire to the door of Sen. Bernie Sanders&#8217; office in Burlington, Vermont, while staff was working inside, police and prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>Shant Soghomonian, formerly of Northridge, California, was arrested on Sunday after investigators reviewed surveillance camera footage that captured him allegedly spraying a liquid on the outer door of Sanders&#8217; office in downtown Burlington, U.S. Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The fire unfolded around 10:45 a.m. Friday outside Sanders&#8217; third-floor Church Street office, which is in a building that is also used in interstate commerce, Kerest said.<\/p>\n<p>Sanders was not at the office at the time of the blaze, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A significant fire engulfed the door and part of the vestibule, impeding the egress of staff members who were working in the office and endangering their lives,&#8221; according to a statement from the Burlington Police Department.<\/p>\n<p>The Burlington Fire Department fire crews quickly responded to the fire and extinguished the flames, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Along with fire damage to Senator Sanders&#8217;s door and vestibule, water from the sprinkler systems caused significant damage to that space and other areas of the building,&#8221; police said.<\/p>\n<p>Surveillance video, according to police, showed the suspect entering the building and proceeding to the third floor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Soghomonian was recorded on a security video spraying a liquid near the outer door of the office and then lighting the area with a handheld lighter. A blaze quickly began while Soghomonian departed via a staircase,&#8221; Kerest said.<\/p>\n<p>Soghomonian, who also goes by the name Michael Soghomonian, was arrested after police released surveillance photos of the suspect and asked for the public&#8217;s help in identifying him, according to police.<\/p>\n<p>A motive for the incident remains under investigation, according to police.<\/p>\n<p>The suspect was charged with using fire to damage a building used in interstate commerce and as a place of activity affecting interstate commerce, according to a federal complaint.<\/p>\n<p>If convicted of the charges, Soghomonian could be sentenced to 5 to 20 years in federal prison and face a fine of up to $250,000, according to Kerest.<\/p>\n<p>It was unclear Sunday whether Soghomonian has hired an attorney. The suspect is awaiting his first court appearance in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle, officials said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am deeply grateful to the swift, professional, coordinated efforts of local, state, and federal law enforcement in response to the fire at my Vermont office on Friday,&#8221; Sanders said in a statement. &#8220;I am also thankful that none of the many people who were in the office building at the time of the fire were injured. I appreciate the outpouring of support and well-wishes for me and my staff. We are proud to be able to continue to serve Vermonters during these challenging times.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WVNY Federal charges were filed Sunday against a 35-year-old man who allegedly set fire to the door of Sen. Bernie Sanders&#8217; office in Burlington, Vermont, while staff was working inside, police and prosecutors said. Shant Soghomonian, formerly of Northridge, California, was arrested on Sunday after investigators reviewed surveillance camera footage<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lascrucestoday.com\/newstalklc\/suspect-in-fire-at-sen-bernie-sanders-vermont-office-hit-with-federal-charges\/\">Read More &rarr;<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,31,2],"tags":[273,271,276,274,270,123,275,133,124,272,102,103],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Suspect in fire at Sen. 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