7 months ago
By Bay City News Service
A North Bay man has been named to the FBI's most wanted terrorists list for the alleged animal rights-related bombings of two East Bay companies in 2003.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, now 31, disappeared following the bombings on Aug. 28, 2003, of the Emeryville biotechnology firm Chiron Inc., and on Sept. 26, 2003, of the Pleasanton health and beauty products company Shaklee Corp.
No one was injured in the early-morning explosion at Chiron. A second bomb set to detonate an hour later was found and the area was cleared before it went off, according to the FBI.
At Shaklee, a bomb wrapped in nails exploded but there were also no injuries.
The FBI accused San Diego of planting all three bombs.
An animal rights group called the Revolutionary Cells took responsibility for both bombings at the time, claiming both companies had business ties with another firm that tested product on animals.
FBI spokesman Joe Schadler said Tuesday the agency was not willing to comment on any potential groups affiliations that San Diego may have had.
According to the FBI, San Diego professed to be active in the animal rights movement and had expressed extreme views about the use of violence in achieving the goals of the movement.
"As a society we cannot sit idly by and allow violence to become an acceptable solution for social and political problems," Charlene Thornton, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco office, said in a prepared statement.
The statement said San Diego's alleged actions had set an example to others in the animal rights movement, noting two August 2008 fire bombings in Santa Cruz by "individuals espousing similar beliefs."
A federal grand jury in 2004 indicted San Diego -- who grew up in
San Rafael and is the son of retired Belvedere City Manager Edmund San Diego -- on two counts of destroying or attempting to destroy property with explosives and two counts of use of a destructive device in a crime of violence.
The FBI offered a $250,000 reward in 2006 for information leading to his arrest.
San Diego is only the second American to be named to the FBI's most wanted terrorists list, which includes Usama Bin Laden. The only other U.S. citizen is Adam Yahiye Gadahn, 30, also indicted in California for allegedly providing material support to Al Qaeda.
"Mr. San Diego and those like him are every bit as great a threat to the peace and security of the United States as any foreign terrorist," said Thornton.
Schadler said the decision to name San Diego a most wanted terrorist was intended to heighten the visibility of the case in order to locate him.
"We don't have any reason to believe he's still in the Bay Area," said Schadler.
The FBI said San Diego travels internationally and should be considered armed and dangerous. He wears eyeglasses and has several distinctive tattoos, including a circular one on his chest featuring burning hillsides and the words, "It only takes a spark."
He is also a committed vegan, eschewing either eating or wearing animal products, the FBI said.
According to the FBI, San Diego graduated from San Rafael's Terra Linda High School, briefly attended Los Medanos College in Brentwood, lost a job at a high-tech company in February 2003, and later tried to launch a vegan bakery in Schellville in Sonoma County, but the business failed.
Bay City News Service
