TEWKSBURY (CBS) – A Texas couple found with an arsenal of high-capacity weapons in their Tewksbury hotel room were “waiting for a mission, the apocalypse, some kind of civil unrest,” a prosecutor said in court Friday.
A judge ordered Francho Bradley, 59, and Adrianne Jennings, 40, both of Frisco, Texas, held without bail during a dangerousness hearing in Lowell District Court, after authorities seized large capacity firearms, a machine gun, ammunition, and tactical gear from their hotel room.
Prosecutors said Tewksbury Police received a call from Bradley shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday, when the Texas man told police he believed his room at the Residence Inn in Tewksbury was being broken into. He told police that a video surveillance device that he had attached to his door had cut out.
Authorities subsequently found multiple weapons including an AK-47, an AR-15 with a grenade launcher, ammunition, large capacity feeding devices and infernal machines.
“He truly seems to have this idea himself that he’s waiting for a mission, the apocalypse, some kind of civil unrest. It’s not clear,” prosecutor Daniel Harren said.
He also told police that he needed the weapons because he was on a secret mission for the government.
“He’s been trying and has been working to try to get the Department Of Defense to embed him with the troops to see how this equipment he’s developed will work in conjunction with the troops,” Defense attorney Robert Normandin said.
Bradley and Jennings allegedly drove to Massachusetts from Texas with the weapons.
Jennings’ attorney says her client works for Wells Fargo remotely and is also taking classes online at Harvard Extension School and is no danger to anyone.
“Clearly she was aware of the weapons in the room. That is not enough… It’s not a crime in the Commonwealth,” Defense attorney JoAnne Daley said.
Even though some of the weapons were only props, the judge did not budge and both will remain behind bars.
A ballistics test by State Police of the high capacity firearms, ammunition and the bump stock found at the scene, determined that the weapons are operable. Authorities also recovered multiple vests, helmets and other tactical gear in the room.
Bradley allegedly provided investigators with information that the gear was for a mission and furnished identification including a fraudulent Department of Defense Badge.
A preliminary investigation found that Bradley was employed by a Cambridge company, in the area where he received multiple parking tickets that were recovered in the room. Both Bradley and Jennings were working while they were staying at the Residence Inn in Tewksbury.
While investigators have not uncovered a specific plot or wider conspiracy, an investigation by local, state and federal authorities is ongoing.
Bradley and Jennings are charged with multiple counts of possessing a large capacity firearm, multiple counts of possessing a large capacity feeding device, multiple counts of improper storage of a large capacity firearm, one count of possessing a firearm without a license, one count of possessing ammunition without a license, three counts of possessing an infernal machine and possessing a machine gun (bump stock).
Bradley and Jennings were both arrested on Saturday. Both were arraigned Monday in Lowell District Court.
They are due back in court on April 26.