Lawyer pleads guilty to attempt to blow up Chinese Embassy wall, explosion at Texas Public Radio HQ

WASHINGTON — A Florida attorney pleaded guilty Friday to attempting to blow up a portion of the wall outside the Chinese embassy in D.C. last year, as well as to detonating an explosive under a sculpture at the Texas Public Radio headquarters in San Antonio in 2022.

Christopher Rodriguez, 45, of Panama City, appeared before D.C. District Chief Judge James Boasberg to plead guilty to felony charges of damaging property occupied by a foreign government, using explosive materials to cause malicious damage to federal property and receipt or possession of an unregistered firearm. Rodriguez’s plea deal calls for him to face seven-to-10 years in prison at sentencing on Oct. 28.

U.S. Secret Service officers discovered an unattended bag outside the Chinese Embassy in Van Ness in the early morning hours of Sept. 25. On the outside of the bag was a strip of reflective tape. On the inside, officers found approximately 15 pounds of Tannerite stored inside a charcoal briquettes bag and two containers, one of which was labeled “Rifle Targets.” Tannerite is a brand of binary explosive used in target shooting that is designed to explode when struck by a high-velocity bullet.

Officers canvassing the area a day later found three shell casings in a nearby gravel pile as well as recovered bullet fragments from the ground along the embassy wall. Investigators also found surveillance footage showing an individual setting a backpack down near the embassy at approximately 2:17 a.m.  The individual then walked toward the gravel pile. A little less than 20 minutes later, the individual can be seen walking away from the area carrying what appears to be a rifle bag and a messenger bag.

DNA found on the backpack returned a “moderate stringency match” with Rodriguez from a June 2021 arrest in Los Angeles County, California. According to charging documents, during that arrest police found multiple firearms and several bags and jars labeled “Tannerite” in Rodriguez’s vehicle.

Rodriguez was arrested in November 2023 in Louisiana and has since then been held without bond at the D.C. Jail  In an unsuccessful motion seeking his release, Rodriguez said he’d served seven years in the U.S. Army, including at least one deployment in Iraq, and had previously worked as a public defender in Tampa before entering private practice.

Rodriguez’s involvement in a November 2022 explosion outside the Texas Public Radio headquarters in downtown San Antonio had not been previously reported. According to WUSA9’s sister station KENS5, surveillance video shows someone placing a device near a statue called “Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head” in the early morning hours of Nov. 7, 2022. The device then detonated six minutes later. No one was injured in the explosion.

On Friday, Rodriguez admitted he’d placed the explosive device and caused it to detonate by shooting it with a rifle – the same thing he would attempt unsuccessfully near the Chinese Embassy a little less than a year later. No motive was given for either incident.

According to Boasberg, Rodriguez’s plea agreement contains an unusual provision that would bind him to a prison sentence within the seven-to-10-year range. Normally, federal judges have discretion to go above, or below, recommended sentencing guidelines if they feel it’s warranted. Boasberg said he would notify the parties before the sentencing date if he decided not to accept the plea.