SAN FRANCISCO — FBI officials are seeking a 25-year-old man described as an animal rights activist in connection with recent bombings at a Bay Area biotech firm and a cosmetics and vitamins company.
Daniel Andreas San Diego, who lives in Schellville, an unincorporated area outside Sonoma, is wanted on suspicion of maliciously destroying or attempting to destroy property with explosives, authorities said Thursday. An arrest warrant was filed Sunday, and the supporting documents have been sealed by order of a federal judge.
In late August, two crude pipe bombs exploded at the Emeryville headquarters of Chiron Corp. A month later, a small bomb shattered glass at the Pleasanton offices of Shaklee Corp.
The suspect's father, Edmund H. San Diego, the city manager of Belvedere in Marin County, said in an e-mail that he was surprised by the warrant, and he urged his son to surrender to avoid more conflict.
"We are very saddened about today's developments, and suffice to say that we know little more than you about the situation," the father said.
Some animal rights activists said San Diego, who goes by the name of Andreas San Diego, is innocent. Through anonymous e-mails, the self-proclaimed Revolutionary Cells took responsibility for the bombings in the name of animal and Earth liberation.
The activists also said that several homes in Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Oakland had been under FBI surveillance in the days leading up to the arrest warrant. David Hayden, an animal rights advocate in Santa Cruz and a friend of San Diego, said his house had been under round-the-clock watch from two cars, beginning Tuesday night.
According to Hayden, two FBI agents knocked on his door Thursday morning and asked if he knew where San Diego was. "They told me that it would be a crime to give him shelter," Hayden said.
David Trager, an agent with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has been working with the FBI on the case, confirmed that several homes had been under surveillance, but he did not disclose the locations.
He said authorities had been led to San Diego through "leads from Web sites and some phone calls."
Trager said San Diego was suspected of setting off the devices. "Whether he was responsible for constructing them, I don't know," the ATF agent said.
Officials secured the arrest warrant Sunday after trying for days to locate the suspect, said San Francisco FBI spokeswoman LaRae Quy.
