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Fireworks Factory Found In Plymouth Home

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Apr 8, 2008 6:21 pm US/Eastern

Fireworks Factory Found In Plymouth Home

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (WBZ) ― Investigators raided a Plymouth home Monday night and say they found a huge illegal fireworks factory inside.

The State Fire Marshal's office said a box truck full of homemade fireworks was parked outside Robert Rinaldi's house on Sandy Beach Road, when authorities arrived.

When they went inside, officers say they found six improvised explosive devices, black powder, chemicals and equipment used to make fireworks.

A hazardous materials team safely removed all of the fireworks from the property.

Investigators would not say if Rinaldi has been charged.

Authorities raided the same home more than 17 years ago.

Rinaldi told WBZ the explosion that burned him hasn't stopped him from making fireworks again, which he calls his hobby.

"Don't you enjoy the idea of pretty colors in the sky?" Rinaldi said. "It's like I'm an artist and the sky is the canvas."

Rinaldi admits he was buying chemicals in bulk and reselling them in smaller packages.

Agents reportedly found about $125,000 worth of illegal fireworks in Rinaldi's home in July 1990.

Six months after that raid, Rinaldi was burned over 90-percent of his body when a trailer full of fireworks blew up and knocked his neighbor's home off its foundation, according to the paper.

The Patriot Ledger reported that Rinaldi and his mother, Ernestine, each pleaded guilty to 18 charges of illegal possession of fireworks in 1991. They were put on probation for two years and fined $500. 


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