Feds say RI man accused of trying to convert AR-15 to machine gun also had swastikas

PROVIDENCE — A Johnston man stands accused of trying to arm himself with a machine gun, and federal agents searching his home say they found three AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, illegal silencers, Nazi flags and armbands and evidence that he was gathering information on local businesses and people.

In one recent communication, 27-year-old Alessio Dandrea had referred to the machine gun he desired as a "(racial epithet) sweeper," Assistant U.S. Attorney G. Michael Seaman told U.S. Magistrate Patricia A. Sullivan on Friday.

Dandrea left the federal courthouse in Providence on Friday wearing an electronic ankle bracelet after Seaman itemized the troubling discoveries at his home.

Dandrea's arrest stemmed from his order of a device that could convert one of his semi-automatic AR-15s into an automatic weapon, but the shipment from a Chinese supplier drew attention at JFK Airport in New York, according to authorities.

The discovery by U.S. Customs and Border Protection paved the way for an investigation that led to a search of Dandrea's Johnston home and his arrest on Thursday.

The same probe led to findings set forth in affidavits filed in court on Thursday, including information regarding a text exchange with a person whom investigators believe is Dandrea's brother; the men had consulted on shipping information for the package containing the banned "auto sear," the device that can render a semi-automatic weapon fully automatic, according to a record filed in federal court. The brother has similar views as Dandrea, Seaman said.

"Being delivered in Jew York … Probably a bag of bagels," Dandrea texted, the record says. The same text also had a symbol for the Star of David, it says.

"The swastikas were extremely concerning to us," said Seaman, who asked Sullivan to jail Dandrea.

In certain concerning communications with his brother, Seaman said, Dandrea had been focused on local businesses, including an eatery that sells fried chicken and a coffee shop. The communications included references to the ethnicity of people, he said.

Investigators found Dandrea had examined information about the owners of certain businesses during online searches at the website for the Rhode Island secretary of state's office.

Some of his research homed in on the movements of a particular person, Seaman said.

"We're seeing ties to actual places and people," Seaman added. He emphasized that agents had only just begun to delve into such information after executing their search warrant Thursday.

"The more we're looking into it, the stranger it gets," Seaman said.

Dandrea, he said, had performed such research just a few days before he had ordered the auto sear for the AR-15.

Seaman acknowledged that investigators had found nothing so far that amounted to a specific threat against any specific target.

"No specific plan," he told Sullivan when she asked, but he emphasized that Dandrea had made the "sweeper" reference to the gun just before July 3.

Agents found 27 firearms in the home and seized six, including three AR-15s belonging to Dandrea, Seaman said. They also seized two silencers, he said.

Dandrea is charged with possession of an unregistered firearm silencer and unlicensed importation/transportation of a machine gun from foreign commerce. The "auto sear" device itself is classified as a machine gun by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

"The things that Mr. Seaman is describing are very, very troubling," Sullivan, the magistrate told Dandrea.

But she worked with his lawyer, Anthony Traini, to set up conditions for his release, including electronic monitoring and oversight to cut off his access to weapons and eliminate contact between him and his brother. Sullivan set an unsecured bond of $10,000 and scheduled a review for Aug. 7.

His father, Romeo Dandrea, who was teary-eyed, agreed to help keep Dandrea and his brother from contacting each other.

Traini told Sullivan that Dandrea lives in the family home, where he takes care of his mother, who has multiple sclerosis.

The elder Dandrea has already removed the firearms that were not seized from the family's home on Everbloom Drive in Johnston, taking the guns to a Warwick dealer, Traini said.

The father and his son made no comment as they walked to their vehicle from the courthouse.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Feds: RI man with swastikas tried to arm himself with machine gun