A jury convicted a former Navy SEAL, Gregory Vandenberg, with neo-Nazi beliefs, on Monday for transporting fireworks across state lines with plans to shoot explosives at police during last year’s “No Kings” protest in San Diego, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the conviction followed a five-day trial in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After the verdict, Vandenberg was ordered held in custody until his sentencing hearing, which has not yet been scheduled, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The case carries a possible sentence of up to 10 years in prison, according to the office.
Federal prosecutors said Vandenberg intended to travel from El Paso, Texas, to California to injure law enforcement officers at the June 14 rally. Investigators found messages on his phone indicating he was angry with President Donald Trump because he believed the U.S. government is controlled by Israel and Jewish people, prosecutors said. The home screen on his phone displayed a picture of the Taliban flag, they added.
FBI agents testified that they found clothing and paraphernalia in Vandenberg’s car with anti-Israel slogans and neo-Nazi symbols, including a flag for the militant group the Caucasian Front. Prosecutors also said FBI agents testified they found a message in Latin on those items that said “Judea must be destroyed.”
Vandenberg, 49, stopped at a travel center near Lordsburg, New Mexico, on June 12, prosecutors said. There, he purchased six large mortar fireworks and 72 M-150 firecrackers, which are designed to sound like gunfire.
Prosecutors said Vandenberg told the store clerk that he had significant knowledge of explosives and prior special operations forces experience and outlined his intentions to harm police at the upcoming demonstration. They said the same time, he urged the clerk to join him and that he had no stable employment and lived in his car. Prosecutors also said Vandenberg wore a T-shirt that had the word “Amalek” on the front and that he told the clerk he had designed the term to mean “destroyer of Jews.”
According to prosecutors, store employees wrote down Vandenberg’s license plate and contacted authorities. He was arrested June 13 while sleeping in his car at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Vandenberg told FBI agents he was traveling for work and visiting friends in Phoenix despite being unemployed. Vandenberg was convicted of transportation of explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate, as well as attempted transportation of prohibited fireworks into California.
Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said in a statement that the verdict shows prosecutors will pursue people who intend to use violence to express political beliefs. Ellison said, “People in this country are free to hold their own beliefs and to express them peacefully,” and added: “What they are not free to do is use explosives to threaten or terrorize others. Vandenberg intended to turn explosives into a tool of intimidation.”
A phone message was left Tuesday seeking comment from Vandenberg’s attorney, Russell Dean Clark.