PORTLAND — A Biddeford resident accused of conspiracy and theft of firearms from a federally licensed gun dealer has pleaded guilty to the charge in U.S. District Court in Portland.
Danny Rydle, 29, faces up to five years in federal prison on the conspiracy charge, up to 10 years on the theft charge and a $250,000 fine.
According to court records, Rydle and an unnamed individual broke into a Biddeford gun shop and stole four firearms on Feb. 20, 2018.
The theft was discovered by the Biddeford Police Department, who responded to a burglar alarm and found a broken glass door at the building’s entrance.
An affidavit on file at the court outlined that Rydle and the other person used a brick to break the glass door of the establishment and then used a rock to break a glass display case. The firearms taken included two 9mm Glock semi-automatics, a Taurus 9mm semi-automatic and a Smith and Wesson .40 caliber semi-automatic.
The responding officers used a police dog to try to track the burglars in the neighborhood around the break-in. According to the affidavit, the dog found a price tag on the ground that had a description of the weapon and the store name on it — and a bloody fingerprint.
Later, police obtained a DNA sample from Rydle, which matched the DNA on the bloody fingerprint, according to the court records.
Video surveillance from another store in the area showed a man one of the officers recognized as Rydle — the two had attended the same grade school.
Rydle will be sentenced after the completion of a pre-sentencing investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.
The case was investigated by Biddeford Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 780-9016 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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