Judge says veteran puts Rockland at risk

After listening to prosecutors detail their case against Robert A. Rinaldi, Judge Robert Moynahan, said “he puts a town and community at risk, the Fire Department and Police Department and the ATF at risk, and children at risk, for money.’’

Rinaldi allegedly gathered stockpiles of fireworks — including more than 200 devices containing dynamite, fuses, and incendiary chemicals and powders — to construct and sell homemade firecrackers or pyrotechnic devices. State Police first investigated him in 1990, a year before he caused an explosion in his Plymouth home that severely burned most of his body and damaged neighboring homes, according to prosecutors.

Rinaldi, while living in Plymouth, was charged in April 2008 with six counts of possessing an infernal machine and one count of manufacturing and storing fireworks. Three months later, he was charged with 24 similar counts. He was out on $100 bail when he was arrested Thursday at his home in Rockland.

Lieutenant Jeanne M. Stewart of the State Police said after Rinaldi’s arraignment in Hingham District Court that the boxes of fireworks and other incendiary materials could have ignited with “heat, shock, or friction.’’ As a trooper, she investigated Rinaldi in the mid-1990s and in 2008 and led the most recent investigation. Rinaldi also stored some materials in his van, she said.

After obtaining a search warrant, police confiscated dozens of boxes of firecrackers and other explosive materials and powders. They took the materials to a small military base about 20 miles away, where they destroyed the material in a controlled detonation at about 2 a.m. yesterday.

The blast could be felt in Rockland, residents said. “My room shook, you could hear the vibration from the explosion,’’ Joseph Burton, a 45-year-old roofer, said yesterday afternoon.

“To think that all that stuff was just down there,’’ Burton said, pointing down Union Street towards Rinaldi’s home. “I had no idea what he was up to, but when I found out, I was surprised no one got hurt.’’

Although Burton and others said they did not know Rinaldi had huge quantities of explosive materials so close to their homes, other residents said they knew Rinaldi had a proclivity for fireworks, that he sold them, and that he was nicknamed “Boom Boom.’’

Scott Duffey, Rockland’s fire chief, said firefighters have been called to Rinaldi’s address several times in recent years. There was a garage door fire in 2007 and an illegal outdoor burning.

“He said he was making his own charcoal, said it was for cooking purposes, but it turns out he was making his own charcoal for the construction for his own devices,’’ Duffey said. “The neighbors saw people coming in and out, and they wondered if there was any drug involvement in the house . . . but come to find out it was the sale and manufacture of the devices and the components to go with it.’’

If convicted, Rinaldi faces a lengthy prison term. Under a state law passed in July, people found guilty of possessing an “infernal machine’’ or materials that could be used to construct such a device face up to 10 years in prison. Rinaldi was charged with 210 counts of possession of an explosive device, possession of explosive components, and manufacturing and storage of fireworks. He is due in court Sept. 27 for a preliminary hearing.

Brian R. Ballou can be reached at bballou@globe.com.