Man who prompted Rochester standoff in 2018 gets 39 months for making bombs

Ryan Cortina (Police mugshot)

CONCORD - A Somersworth man was sentenced to 39 months in federal prison for possession of an unregistered NFA firearm, an improvised explosive bomb, the U.S. Attorneys Office said on Monday.
According to court documents and statements made in court, on Sept. 23, 2019, the Somersworth Police Department received information from a confidential informant (CI) that Ryan Cortina, 34, possessed destructive devices at his Somersworth residence.
The CI claimed Cortina showed him a "grenade" he had built. Officers applied for a search warrant for Cortina's residence. While executing the warrant on Sept. 27, 2019, officers located five suspected destructive devices in a duffle bag. Further analysis showed that one of the devices was an improvised explosive bomb which therefore should have been registered in accordance with Federal Firearms Registration.
"The improvised explosive bomb seized from the defendant's home placed his neighbors and the community in danger," said U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young. "Thanks to good police work, law enforcement officers were able to secure the potentially-deadly device and prevent individuals from being harmed."

"This investigation is an example of the hard work of ATF special agents and the excellent cooperation we have with our law enforcement partners," said James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of ATF's Boston Field Division. "Because of this cooperation, we were able to seize these dangerous destructive devices and ensured they never found their way into our communities."
Cortina was also the subject of a standoff arrest at Amazon Park in April of 2018.
The nine-hour standoff on April 19, 2018, brought together one of the largest contingents of law enforcement in the Northern Seacoast in recent memory, but Rochester Police press log accounts show it was also one of the most chaotic.
The standoff began a little after 3 p.m. when Cortina, then 30, who was sought for questioning regarding an alleged domestic assault earlier in the day, refused to come out of his mobile home and began barricading his doors and windows with furniture and other items, Rochester Police Deputy Chief Jason Thomas, then a captain and press liaison, said a day after the incident. Thomas also said one of the responding officers saw Cortina had a weapon, which intensified the police response.
Cortina got off with a suspended sentence for his crimes that day.