Daniel Andreas San Diego: Man on FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List Spotted in Mass.?
FBI is asking for the public's help in capturing him.
Nov. 16, 2011— -- One of the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists, Daniel Andreas San Diego, may have been seen in Northampton, Mass., and the FBI is asking for the public's help in capturing him.
The 33-year-old San Diego is an alleged animal rights extremist and is wanted in connection with two domestic bombing incidents that occurred in 2003.
In August 2003 two homemade bombs exploded one hour apart at Chiron Corporation, a biotechnology company, based in Emeryville, Calif.
FBI officials believe the second bomb was timed to explode just as emergency personnel were on site investigating the first explosion. No one was hurt in either blast.
Less than a month later, a bomb containing nails exploded at Shaklee Corporation – which makes nutritional supplements and eco-friendly shampoos and lotions - in Pleasanton, Calif.
FBI officials believe San Diego targeted those companies because of their ties to Huntingdon Life Company, a company that does laboratory testing on animals. At the time, a group called SHAC or Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty had demanded businesses stop all dealings with Huntingdon and threatened violence if their demands were not met.
According to the FBI's special agent in charge in Boston, Richard Deslauriers, the FBI is now searching for San Diego in western Massachusetts because a recent tip that came in to the FBI's San Francisco office after an airing of an episode of America's Most Wanted was determined to be "substantive and credible." DesLauriers would not characterize the nature of the tip or when it came in but said anyone who "knows Mr. San Diego as a neighbor or a co-worker" should contact Boston's FBI office or San Francisco's office. All tips will be kept confidential, said DesLauriers.
In 2004, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Sam Diego on charges of malicious damage and destruction of property by means of explosives; and "possession of a destructive device during, in relation to, and in furtherance of a crime of violence."
In 2009, San Diego had the dubious distinction of being the first domestic terrorist to be places on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list, a list that, at the time, also had Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri on it. There is a $250,000 reward out for information leading to his arrest.
According to DesLauriers, San Diego has several distinguishing characteristics that may make it easier for the public to spot him.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, who also goes by his middle name, Andreas, is a vegan who follows a strict diet that shuns meat and anything that contains animal products.
San Diego also has some distinguishing tattoos on his body -- a round image of burning hillsides in the center of his chest with the words, "It only takes a spark," printed in a semicircle below; burning and collapsing buildings on the sides of his abdomen and back; and a single leafless tree rising from a road in the center of his lower back.
Because of the tattoos, said DesLauriers, San Diego may be "reluctant to remove his shirt, even if it seems warranted."
In his eight years on the run, San Diego may have had the tattoos altered or covered up.
San Diego is six feet tall with brown hair and brown eyes. He has "training in computer networking" according to the FBI, and has been known to cook and make Asian foods.
Because of his many years on the run, said DesLauriers, San Diego may be excessively secretive and vague about details of his life. He may also use prepaid cell phone cards and other means of hiding his identity.
San Diego is considered armed and dangerous, particularly so because of his alleged history of making homemade bombs.
