Firebomb Is Found at Courthouse in Auburn

A firebomb was found Sunday outside the Placer County courthouse in Auburn, Calif., but it was unclear if the incident was the latest in a monthlong string of arson attacks blamed on eco-terrorists, authorities said Monday.

The fertilizer-laden device was discovered about dawn by a passerby not long after it ignited but before it exploded, officials said. The incident occurred five days after the FBI arrested Ryan Daniel Lewis, 21, on suspicion of placing five explosive devices on Jan. 12 in a commercial building under construction in Auburn.

Lewis, who lives with his family in Newcastle, remained in custody pending a detention hearing Thursday.

Keith Slotter, who heads the FBI’s Sacramento field office, said authorities were still investigating the possibility that Lewis had accomplices in the January incident. “This is far from over,” he said.

Slotter added that authorities are “not sure yet” if that incident was related to Sunday’s attempted arson attack. But others, including a Sacramento-area arson investigator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it did not appear that the incidents were connected.

Lewis’ attorney, federal public defender Timothy Zindel, declined to comment about the case other than to maintain his client’s innocence.

Since just after Christmas, Sacramento authorities have been investigating whether a sudden string of attempted arson attacks represents a new wave of crime in California by the militant Earth Liberation Front.

On Dec. 28, construction workers found incendiary devices at three new houses in the Sacramento suburb of Lincoln. Two weeks later, authorities were investigating the attempted arson at the commercial building in Auburn. On Feb. 7, seven devices were found after a brief fire at a 100-unit apartment complex in Sutter Creek, just southwest of Sacramento.