Ex-Navy SEAL Planned To Fire Explosives At Police At San Diego Protest

SAN DIEGO, CA — A former U.S. Navy SEAL with neo-Nazi beliefs was convicted of transporting fireworks across state lines with the intent to injure law enforcement officers at a "No Kings" protest in San Diego, authorities said.

Gregory Vandenberg, 49, was convicted Monday by a federal jury of transportation of explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate and attempted transportation of prohibited fireworks into California after a five-day trial and roughly three hours of deliberation, according to the Department of Justice.

Prosecutors said Vandenberg was traveling from El Paso, Texas, to San Diego to use fireworks at a June 14 protest. On June 12, He stopped at a travel center in New Mexico to purchase six large mortar fireworks and 72 M-150 firecrackers.

"During this visit, he told the store clerk that he intended to throw fireworks at police officers at the upcoming protests," the Department of Justice said in a news release. "He asked detailed questions about the amount of gunpowder in the fireworks, their explosive impact, and their ability to harm others."

Employees recorded his license plate and contacted law enforcement.

FBI agents tracked Vandenberg to Tucson, Arizona, and arrested him the following morning while he was sleeping in his car at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Agents found the fireworks inside his car, along with clothing with antisemitic, anti-Israel and extremist symbols, including a T-shirt with an image of the Al-Qaeda flag and a T-shirt calling for the destruction of Judea.

Agents also found messages on the former serviceman's phone indicating he was upset with President Trump because he believed the U.S. government was being controlled by Israel and the Jewish people, according to the Department of Justice.

"People in this country are free to hold their own beliefs and to express them peacefully," Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said. "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, and this verdict sends the message that attempts to substitute violence for expressing one's opinion has no place in our communities and will be met with federal consequences."

Vandenberg faces 10 years in prison. His sentencing date has not been scheduled.