Retired judge admits buying assault rifle for ‘Nazi-obsessed’ Troy Hill felon

A retired federal administrative law judge from Mercer County pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of buying an assault rifle for his boyfriend, a North Side felon described by the FBI as obsessed with Nazis and mass shootings.

Karl Alexander, 78, who splits his time between Pittsburgh and Grove City, admitted to lying on a federal firearm form in buying an AR-15 for Dennis Alan Riggs, 50, of Troy Hill, who was arrested on illegal gun charges in January after a raid on his house that turned up seven guns among portraits of Hitler, swastikas and Nazi banners.

Riggs can’t have weapons because he’s a felon. Alexander admitted to acting as his straw buyer and that he did it because of his romantic relationship with Riggs.

A retired judge who heard Social Security Administration disability cases in Morgantown, W.Va., Alexander was indicted by a grand jury in Pittsburgh on Feb. 18.

He admitted he bought the AR-15 at Ace Sporting Goods in Washington County on Sept. 29, 2018, stating on a federal firearms form that he was buying it for himself when he was really buying it for Riggs. Riggs was present during the purchase

and picked out the weapon, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Lieber Smolar. He paid Alexander with a check for $789.

In describing the transaction and the investigation that followed, Ms. Smolar said Riggs had asked Alexander to buy the weapon for him for six or seven years. Alexander put him off because he was still a sitting judge and knew it was illegal, but he finally agreed to buy the gun after he retired. When the FBI interviewed Alexander, he said he had “no excuse” for what he’d done and indicated he did it because of his relationship with Riggs.

Alexander said nothing in court other than to answer questions from U.S. District Judge Robert Colville. When the judge asked him how he was pleading, he said, “Guilty.”

A federal magistrate judge had previously let Alexander go on bond but ordered him to have no contact with Riggs pending the outcome of his case.

Alexander said he spends weekends in Pittsburgh at Riggs’ home on Hatteras Street, which Alexander bought in 2002, and his weekdays at his Grove City home, which he bought in 2018.

The FBI’s local terrorism task force stormed the Pittsburgh home on Jan. 22. Agents said they found the AR-15 along with six other guns. Six of the seven weapons were loaded, including a revolver with the hammer cocked. Agents also recovered numerous rounds of ammunition, some knives and daggers, and hundreds of bottles of alcohol.

In addition to the Nazi memorabilia, agents found a video on Riggs’ phone depicting him in Nazi clothing, making the Nazi salute, and loading and unloading the AR-15.

The phone also contained other images of Riggs with guns; a video of the 2019 mosque massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand; and a photo of Dylann Roof, the killer in the 2015 church massacre in Charleston, S.C., along with his federal prison contact information.

Riggs is charged with possession of guns by a felon, but the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI were clearly concerned that he is a potential mass shooter.

“Riggs’ Nazi videos, photos and paraphernalia clearly show his obsession with hate-based violence,” U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said after the arrest. “His cache of firearms clearly show his capability to act on that obsession.”

Judge Colville said he will sentence Alexander on July 15. He faces up to 10 years in prison.