Store clerk foiled ex-Navy SEAL's explosives plot targeting police at No Kings protest, feds say
A former U.S. Navy SEAL was convicted in a foiled plot to attack law enforcement officers with explosives during a "No Kings" protest in California after a store clerk's tip led federal investigators to him.
Gregory Vandenberg, 49, was found guilty after a five-day federal trial of transportation of explosives with intent to kill, injure or intimidate and attempted transportation of prohibited fireworks into California, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico.
Jurors deliberated for about three hours before returning the guilty verdict.
Prosecutors said Vandenberg was driving from El Paso, Texas, to San Diego ahead of the June 14, 2025, demonstrations when he stopped at a travel center near Lordsburg, New Mexico, and purchased six mortar-style fireworks and 72 M-150 firecrackers.
While making the purchase, Vandenberg told a store clerk he intended to throw the explosives at law enforcement officers during the protests, federal authorities said.
He repeatedly asked about the amount of gunpowder in the fireworks, whether taping multiple mortars together would increase their explosive force and said he was interested only in their ability to injure officers, prosecutors said.
Vandenberg also encouraged the clerk to attend the protests and hand out fireworks to others, telling the employee he would not get hurt because of his military experience, according to trial testimony.
The conversation alarmed employees enough that they wrote down Vandenberg's license plate and contacted law enforcement before he reached California.
Federal agents tracked Vandenberg to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where he was arrested the following morning while sleeping inside his vehicle.
ANTI-ISRAEL DEMONSTRATOR SENTENCED TO YEAR IN JAIL FOR MANSLAUGHTER DURING 2023 PROTESTS
Prosecutors said he falsely claimed he was traveling for work despite being unemployed and later told investigators he was visiting friends in Phoenix.
A search of Vandenberg's vehicle uncovered the fireworks along with clothing displaying antisemitic, anti-Israel and extremist imagery, according to prosecutors.
Among the items recovered were shirts bearing an Al-Qaeda flag, a shirt calling for the destruction of Judea, a hat featuring the Al-Qaeda flag and apparel displaying a variation of the Black Sun, a symbol associated with neo-Nazi ideology.
Jurors were also shown photographs of Vandenberg wearing a custom-made T-shirt bearing the word "AMALEK" while inside the travel center. Prosecutors said Vandenberg told investigators the word meant "destroyer of Jews."
Investigators also discovered Vandenberg's cellphone home screen displayed a Taliban flag. A forensic review of the phone uncovered what prosecutors described as violent extremist content, including antisemitic, anti-Israel and anti-U.S. material, as well as messages discussing the upcoming protests.
According to prosecutors, those messages suggested Vandenberg believed the U.S. government, including President Donald Trump, was controlled by Israel and Jewish people, evidence they argued helped establish his motive for targeting law enforcement officers.
"People in this country are free to hold their own beliefs and to express them peacefully," Acting U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison said in a statement. "What they are not free to do is use explosives to threaten or terrorize others."
Ellison added that Vandenberg "intended to turn explosives into a tool of intimidation," and said the 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 was later sentenced to 16 months in federal prison, where he remains in custody. Upon his release, he will serve one year of supervised release.