'Terrified neighbors': Burrillville man charged over arsenal in home remains jailed
A flurry of court activity on Monday blocked the release of a cryptocurrency investor who was jailed after hundreds of guns were seized from his newly purchased property in Burrillville.
Ronald Andruchuk is charged with illegally possessing a firearm after a drug conviction, and prosecutors say his carelessness with guns endangers the public.
On Monday, they introduced an audio recording of gun shots, worried voices and what sounds like bullets buzzing closely past people.
On Friday, Magistrate Judge Patricia Sullivan had tried to create a path for Andruchuk’s release at 4 p.m. Monday, setting terms that included an electronic monitoring program to keep him away from gun stores.
But at the same time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra R. Hebert set out to challenge that release.
By late Monday afternoon, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. had issued a stay in the case.
He was expected to take up the matter in a closed-door meeting late Monday afternoon in his chambers.
Electronic monitoring 'impracticable'
Meanwhile, also on Monday, Sullivan entered a new order, referring to the electronic monitoring program she had envisioned last week as “impracticable.”
Shots fired: Burrillville crypto-currency investor found with hundreds of guns
Her latest order called for another session in the event that McConnell opted to let her original order stand.
At that session, to be held promptly, she would once again address the terms of bail and also consider the option of home detention.
The federal court’s online filing system showed no changes in the status of Andruchuk’s case more than an hour after McConnell’s session had been scheduled to begin.
Bullets 'whizzing through' neighbors' properties
Andruchuck’s arrest on Thursday followed a string of shots-fired incidents on the property in recent months that terrified neighbors, Hebert said.
On Wednesday night, she said, bullets "whizzing through" neighbors' properties brought police to Andruchuk's home, where they found him firing guns. Some of the bullets flew over the officers' heads.
After securing a warrant and searching the home, investigators found an arsenal of more than 200 guns — including more than 115 handguns — with an estimated value of more than $100,000, Hebert said.
A criminal complaint written before Thursday night's search presents information gathered by an agent for the U.S. Bureau of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Justin T. Delaney, who learned of Andruchuk's gun-buying last fall.
Previous investigations
Delaney learned that Andruchuk's name had come up in several local police investigations.
In December, police in Millbury Massachusetts, determined Andruchuk had made use of a bathroom stall at a Tractor Supply store in the town, says the complaint.
Employees of the store, says the complaint, had noticed two wet boot prints on the toilet seat and they believed Andruchuk had hidden a handgun in the drop ceiling.
Two guns, a Ruger .380-caliber pistol, a .22-caliber pistol, drugs and other items, were seized, says the complaint, adding that Andruchuk had bought the Ruger at D&L Shooting Supplies in Warwick.
Delany also learned that in 2019, Cranston police had found Andruchuk in possession of oxycodone pills, morphine and naloxone, according to the complaint.
He was charged Thursday with possession of firearms by a prohibited person, making a false statement in an application to purchase a firearm and causing false records to be kept by a federally recognized firearms dealer.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI arsenal of guns seized Ronald Andruchuk cryptocurrency investor jailed
