Man who illegally stockpiled guns sentenced to 63 months

FEDERAL CHARGES Ronald Andruchuk had been held in a Central Falls facility since his arrest on Feb. 24, 2022.

PROVIDENCE — A Burrillville man who admitted that he illegally bought and stockpiled more than 200 guns and ammunition while using illegal drugs was sentenced Monday to serve 63 months in federal prison.

Ronald Armand Andruchuk tearfully apologized before US District Court Judge Mary S. McElroy, as his wife, oldest son, and other relatives became emotional sitting in the courtroom. “I regret all the actions that led me to jail,” Andruchuk said, reading from three pages of handwritten remarks. “I don’t want to do drugs again. I want to remain sober, and be the best role model for my kids.”

Andruchuk, 38, has been held at the Donald Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls since his arrest on Feb. 24, 2022, at his home, where Burrillville police found him wearing a “battle belt” that contained four firearms and drugs. A search by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, found more than 200 firearms in the house, and another 25,000 rounds of ammunition.

An ATF agent had started investigating in late 2021, after noticing that Andruchuk had bought 169 firearms from July through November, despite a histor y of substance abuse. When Andruchuk and his second wife moved with their children to a secluded home in Burrillville, attracted by the town’s status as a “Second Amendment Sanctuary,” he began building a berm so he could shoot in the backyard, and fired shots at all hours. Some went flying into neighbors’ yards, strafed a home, and went over the heads of police officers called about the gunfire.

Andruchuk pleaded guilty in January to possession of a firearm by a user of controlled substances, and two counts of making a false statement when buying firearms.

Assistant US Attorney Ronald Gendron asked McElroy to s e nt e nc e Andruchuk t o 6 3 months, the lowest end of the sentencing guidelines, as part of the plea agreement.

While Andruchuk and his supporters portrayed him as a family man, and an intelligent and effective social worker who mediated conflicts, there was a dark side, Gendron said.

Andruchuk was using drugs, behaved erratically, and was out of control to his family, Gendron said. He was shooting recklessly at his home, where the guns were piled haphazardly in a locked basement and throughout the house. And, although federal law bars anyone using drugs from purchasing or possessing firearms, Andruchuk bought them anyway, Gendron said.

“It’s astounding that no one was hurt,” he added.

Andruchuk’s lawyer, John L. Calcagni III, asked the judge for a sentence of time served. Andruchuk is giving up all of the firearms and ammunition, which the government will destroy. He’d be barred from buying firearms again, Calcagni said.

“Legally,” the judge noted. Before his arrest, Andruchuk had been working full time as a counselor and case manager at the DaVinci Center in Providence, and he was working on a master’s degree in social work at Rhode Island College.

But he was the one who needed help, Calcagni said. “The common thread is drug abuse. What’s been inconsistent is Ron’s ability for sobriety, to maintain mental health and substance abuse counseling,” the defense attorney added. “What Ron really needs is help, and the system helped him achieve sobriety over the last 14 months” by being in prison.

However, the reasons that a magistrate judge had ordered Andruchuk held without bail since his arrest were his “incredibly troubling” problems with drugs and mental health, explosive rage, and his obsession with firearms.

The prosecutor said there was no evidence that Andruchuk was involved with gun trafficking; he was simply buying guns, for what he claimed was an investment.

McElroy spoke about how he lied in order to buy firearms, the “scary behavior” with his family and his neighbors, and the need to protect the public and issue a sentence that will deter others. “You have a lot of gifts. You’ re obviously very bright. You chose to use your education for good, for social work and as a substitute teacher. They’re not lost to you — you can help others,” she said. “But it’s only pure luck someone wasn’t killed by your behavior.”

As the judge handed down the sentence, Andruchuk’s wife, Jennifer, screamed out, “No! No!” and was escorted out of the courtroom by sheriffs.

Along with serving time in federal prison, Andruchuk will also serve three years supervised when he is released. He is ordered into mental health and substance abuse treatment, and must pay a $10,000 fine, and will have search and seizure conditions.

Andruchuk is also facing state charges in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Outside the courtroom, Calcagni said he was disappointed in the sentence and questioned whether it was the result of the national backdrop of gun violence. “Ron had a longstanding addiction that was the common thread,” Calcagini said.

Jennifer Andruchuk acknowledged that she and her husband had spoken about him going into rehab long before the arrest, but he didn’t want to disrupt his work and school. “We had so many good things going for us, and we didn’t want to dismantle it,” she said.

Inevitably, that’s what happened. Andruchuk was arrested, the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families removed their 7-year-old twins for several months, as social workers investigated the family’s ability to keep them safe. And now, he’s in prison.

She said she cried when she heard her husband reading his remarks to the judge, because she believed they were being ignored. An addict will lie to buy a gun, she said, just as Andruchuk did when he applied to buy a gun and falsely said he wasn’t using drugs. “You need to have a clear mind free of substances, but [the prosecution] refused to acknowledge that it makes ZERO sense to expect a drug user to answer that question honestly.”

She blames the legal system for not helping them. “I think the only appropriate sentence would be rehab,” she said.