Upland Man Indicted on 5 Federal Counts Over Weapons Cache

A Cuban exile who said he stashed nearly 1,400 machine guns, grenades and rifles in his Upland home to help a paramilitary group overthrow President Fidel Castro was indicted this week on federal weapons charges, officials announced Friday.

Robert Ferro, 61, faces five felony counts for allegedly storing the weapons, some of which were unregistered. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office said additional charges could be filed.

A retired Army Special Forces officer, Ferro told The Times that the weapons, which included a rocket launcher, were being stowed for Alpha 66, the Florida paramilitary group that has long plotted Castro’s ouster.

The group has disavowed any connection to Ferro. His attorney, Wayne M. Rozenberg, has said that the group takes that stance because it operates in a secretive manner.

Rozenberg did not return calls Friday seeking comment.

Castro mentioned Ferro in a May 1 speech in Havana, saying the exile “had as many arms as the mercenaries brought with them to Giron,” a reference to the disastrous 1961 U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, the Associated Press reported.

Authorities discovered the weapons in Ferro’s home last month while investigating a La Verne man accused of shooting his wife and a Glendora police officer. The man had once lived at a house Ferro owned in Rancho Cucamonga.

In 1992, Ferro was sentenced to two years in prison for possessing an explosive device. Authorities found 5 pounds of C-4 on his Pomona chicken ranch, where he had been training mercenaries to topple Castro.

Ferro is being held without bail at West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. He is to be arraigned Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Riverside.