Jonathan White, who was arrested July 4 after allegedly vandalizing a historic Kingston church, is facing new, gun-related charges stemming from the search of his car and Plymouth home.
A state trooper assigned to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force-Anti-Terrorism unit said a July 16 search of White’s Chevy Tahoe turned up ammunition in the center console.
The trooper reported that two Winchester .223 caliber Remington rifle rounds were found in the SUV— the same vehicle White was driving when he allegedly ransacked the 170-year-old First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church on Main Street, police said.
That type of ammunition is commonly used in AR-style rifles, the trooper wrote. An AR-style rifle was used in the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump and has been used in many mass shootings.
The ammunition, wrote Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Pacheco, was nearly identical to the ammunition the trooper said he carries as a member of the US Army Reserves and as a police officer.
White does not have a license to carry a firearm or a firearm identification card in Massachusetts, the police report said. (An FID card allows its holder to possess and transport — but not to carry — a gun or ammunition.)
The report did not say that guns or any other weapons during were found during the search.
White bought the Tahoe in Florida in May and registered it in Massachusetts less than a month later, the police report said. Pacheco implied that White may have bought the ammunition in Florida, describing it as an “easy to procure state for purchasing firearms.”
The ammunition, along with “other evidence” – which was not specified – was seized and submitted to the FBI’s Boston headquarters in Chelsea.
FBI agents descended on the Micajah Pond Road home owned by White’s mother on Tuesday and Wednesday, sparking concern and online chatter among neighbors.
White, 43, was arrested by Kingston police several hours after he allegedly broke into the 170-year-old First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church on Main Street and damaged priceless antiques, police said.
White allegedly destroyed handmade, 200-year-old shutters and several antique windows, police said.
He is also accused of setting fire to Pride and Black Lives Matter flags hanging outside.
Kingston Police also alleged that he sprayed a fire extinguisher throughout the building.
White’s lawyer, Christopher Sheehan, described White as a “very kind gentleman who is suffering [from] an acute mental issue — schizo affective disorder.”
But for the illness, he said, none of this would have happened.
“He’s an intelligent person but with his mental issues he was hyper focused on things,” Sheehan said.
White comes from an “amazing tight knit family” that is “devastated by what the church has gone through,” Sheehan said.
Now that White is undergoing treatment, he is “very calm” and “very apologetic for his family and the community,” he added.
A Plymouth district court clerk magistrate on July 19 issued a warrant for White on the new charges —possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card. If convicted, he faces up to 2 years in jail.
He is in a locked psychiatric facility in Bourne, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office, and scheduled to return to court for a detention hearing on July 24, according to court records.
The case was being handled by the Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz, but according to the police report, the search of his house was conducted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task force, a group made up of state, local and federal agencies.
Church leaders, who held a community healing service on July 9, decried the “violent and targeted attack” on their “beloved Meetinghouse” and said the vandalism caused “significant damage.”
But, they added, the church “teaches love and understanding for everyone, including those who commit crimes like this.”
After his arrest, White was charged with burning a public building, leaving the scene of property damage, breaking and entering in the nighttime, vandalizing a church and malicious destruction of property.
On July 4, Plymouth District Court clerk magistrate Adam Baler set bail at $5,000.
White was bailed out and sent to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth, where he underwent psychiatric evaluations, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office.
He was then moved to a locked psychiatric facility, the DA’s office said, where he remained as of Friday.
White formerly worked at Kingston Liquors. Efforts to reach the store’s owner were unsuccessful.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.