California arsonist tied to pro-Hamas motive sentenced to about 19 years in prison
Casey Robert Goonan sentenced to 235 months in prison, 15 years of supervised release, and restitution after a series of arson attacks in the Bay Area.
A California man described by the U.S. Attorney's Office as a domestic terrorist was sentenced to 235 months in prison for a string of arson attacks carried out last year, authorities said.
Casey Robert Goonan pleaded guilty in January to one count of maliciously damaging or destroying property used in interstate commerce by means of fire or an explosive.
According to the plea agreement filed in open court, on June 1, 2024 Goonan placed a bag of Molotov cocktails beneath the fuel tank of a University of California Police Department vehicle and set the bag ablaze, causing the vehicle to catch fire. On June 11, 2024, he threw rocks at the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Oakland in an effort to shatter a window so he could lob Molotov cocktails; protective services officers disrupted the plan. After fleeing, Goonan placed the Molotov cocktails in a planter on the side of the building and lit them. In addition to these two attacks, authorities say Goonan set other fires on the UC Berkeley campus on June 1, June 13, and June 16, 2024.
Goonan acknowledged that the attacks were inspired by Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and said he urged others to attack property on Bay Area college campuses in support of Palestine. The investigation found that his conduct was intended to influence and affect the conduct of governments by intimidation and coercion and to retaliate against the governments of the United States and California.
Senior U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White also ordered Goonan to serve 15 years of supervised release after he is released from custody and restitution in the amount of 94,267.51 dollars and a 100 dollar special assessment. He has been in custody since his initial arrest on state charges on June 17, 2024.
The sentence underscores the federal government's posture toward crimes framed as domestic terrorism, and it comes as authorities monitor a range of politically and ideologically motivated arson cases in California and beyond. The case was prosecuted in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.
