Arizona bookstore owner suspected in UW arson

A 40-year-old Arizona bookstore operator is suspected of involvement in arsons at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture and a Vail, Colo., ski resort, an FBI agent told a Flagstaff federal court on Friday.

William Rodgers, proprietor of The Catalyst in Prescott, Ariz., has been charged with firebombing a wildlife-research lab in Olympia.

Rodgers is one of six people charged this week with involvement in a string of arsons dating to the 1990s for which radical environmental groups have taken credit.

FBI Special Agent Doug Linter testified that information gathered since Rodgers' arrest last week also implicates him in arsons at wild-horse corrals in Burns, Ore., and Rock Springs, Wyo.; and at the UW center and Vail.

Rodgers has not been charged in any of those cases.

In addition, a six-hour search of Rodgers' home and office revealed suspected bomb-making materials, such as timers and re-lighting birthday candles; three guns; and two digital photos of nude, prepubescent girls.

Linter also said the government had a recorded conversation of Rodgers telling an unknown acquaintance he was "planning something big" involving arson.

Friends and family were shocked.

"He's a mild-mannered guy with a good heart," friend Randall Amster said. "You know somebody in one context, and it's hard to imagine this being part of that context."

— Associated Press and Seattle Times staff reporter Craig Welch