Utah ‘constitutionalist’ under arrest in Logan

LOGAN — A man who authorities say has a long history of threats against the government is under arrest on a federal firearms charge related to a standoff at a Logan convenience store.

According to a jail affidavit, David John D’Addabbo, 63, was booked into the Davis County jail on Wednesday after police signaled him into a 7-Eleven parking lot at 405 N. Main Street in Logan.

According to the warrant, officers used a loudspeaker to order D’Addabbo to put his hands out the window, then get out of the car.  The arrest report states he got out of the vehicle but refused to put his hands up, then got back into his car and rolled up the window.

Eventually, according to the warrant, he was talked into surrendering peacefully, then placed under arrest.

The arrest warrant states that D’Addabbo is a “constitutionalist” who does not believe he needs to pay taxes or register his car.  Authorities say in the past, D’Addabbo sent threatening letters to law enforcement and to the Internal Revenue Service.  According to a federal indictment filed in one case, D’Addabbo stated that anyone who tried to collect taxes from him and his wife would be tried by “a jury of common people. You then could be found guilty and taken immediately to a firing squad.”

Officers found a handgun and two magazines of ammunition, ammunition for another gun in a fanny pack, and a “homemade ‘Title of Liberty’ license plate,” at the site of Wednesday’s stand-off.

D’Addabbo was booked in jail under on suspicion of purchase, transfer or possession of a firearm by a restricted person, according to a jail affidavit. He was being held without bail on an order by a federal judge, court records state.

Constitutionalists, who also sometimes are known as sovereign citizens, believe the government does not have the right to do things like levy taxes on them. You can learn more about the philosophy through an episode of our podcast, FBI Confidential.