Overview
- Vandenberg, 49, drove from El Paso toward San Diego before the June 14, 2025 'No Kings' demonstrations and bought six mortar‑style fireworks and 72 M‑150 firecrackers at a travel center in New Mexico.
- A travel‑center employee recorded his license plate and called authorities after Vandenberg said he planned to throw explosives at law enforcement, prompting agents to track and arrest him at Davis‑Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson the next morning.
- Searchers found the purchased explosives in his vehicle along with clothing bearing extremist and antisemitic imagery, and a forensic review of his phone uncovered violent extremist content and messages about the protests.
- After a five‑day federal trial jurors convicted Vandenberg of transporting explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate and related fireworks charges, and a court sentenced him to 16 months in prison plus one year of supervised release.
- Prosecutors emphasized that the civilian tip and the interstate transport of large mortar fireworks were central to the case and said the verdict signals federal consequences for attempts to use explosives to intimidate public safety officers.