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LOGAN — A man who police said started a two-hour standoff with officers outside of a 7-Eleven convenience store Monday evening has a history of making threats against police and local government, officials said Tuesday.
The two-hour standoff at 405 N. Main St. ended around 7 p.m. when police agreed to release David D'Addabbo, 63, of Nibley, to his family to avoid a potential shootout, Logan Police Capt. Tyson Budge said. D’Addabbo told police he was armed and would only surrender himself to Cache County Sheriff Chad Jensen, Budge added.
“He told us he’d rather die than go to jail and we thought we’d rather have him take a ticket and leave without having to have any kind of a shootout and a public spectacle,” Budge said. “I mean, 400 N. Main St., you couldn’t have picked a worse location at 5 p.m. in Logan.”
Police issued a ticket to D’Addabbo for having a homemade license plate, not having registration, and failing to comply with police in relation to Monday’s standoff, according to Budge. Police also impounded D’Addabbo’s pickup truck.
It’s not the first time police have dealt with D’Addabbo. In fact, Budge said he believed the man chose a public location to have an audience. He added D’Addabbo sent a letter to authorities and to The Herald Journal back on Aug. 8, telling them he would die for his rights while defending his property, and that police couldn’t stop him.
Budge described D’Addabbo as someone who believes he is “a sovereign citizen,” who has a past of making threats against local law enforcement and government.
“He doesn’t believe he has to register his vehicle. He believes when he’s paid his taxes on his gas, he’s paid his taxes, and the only people who need to register their vehicles are those that are hauling commerce,” Budge said. “(He thinks) the laws that applied in 1776 apply to him today.”
In 2006, D’Addabbo also pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to making threats against the IRS, according to the Associated Press. He was released after the sentencing because he had already spent five months in Weber County Jail prior to the conviction.
Utah Court records show D’Addabbo pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed a dangerous weapon, a class B misdemeanor, in 2007. He’s also filed lawsuits against various agencies and individuals.
