Ferguson Township Man Previously Convicted of Felony Indicted on Federal Weapons Charge

A Ferguson Township man who 20 years ago pleaded guilty to a federal weapons charge following an investigation into a militia group was indicted again on Thursday for alleged possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon.

The indictment in the U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania accuses Ronald Hertzog, 59, of illegally possessing more than 500 rounds total of five different types of ammunition and two rifle lower receivers, which were found by investigators on Feb. 2.

U.S. Homeland Security investigators were assisted by local police in the investigation.

Arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 17.

Hertzog, a former Penn State computer programmer, was arrested in June 2002 following a yearlong federal investigation of the Pennsylvania Citizens Militia. According to court documents and contemporaneous news reports, Hertzog allegedly had machine guns, grenades, armor-piercing bullets, instructions for converting rifles to fully automatic weapons, counter-surveillance equipment and maps of airports at his then home in College Township.

Prosecutors at the time said Hertzog had the potential to become a terrorist, but he told a federal district judge that he was preparing for World War III, concerned about what he called the “overreaching power” of the United Nations, and that “I love my country.”

He pleaded guilty in September 2002 to one count of possessing unregistered firearms and was sentenced to 70 months in prison.