Warwick, RI – Nicholas Rovinski of 167 Aspinet Drive was arrested this evening without incident after a nine-day stakeout of his home by Warwick Police, State Troopers and the FBI, working together in a “Joint Terror Taskforce.”
An FBI spokeswoman confirmed Rovinski was arrested at the home this evening at 8:16 p.m.. She deferred further questions to Massachusetts District U.S. Attorney Christina Sterling. Sterling was not immediately available for comment.
This afternoon, a RI State Police cruiser and Warwick Police Cruiser remained in the neighborhood, parked nearby the house.
The arrest followed the FBI’s ‘Joint Terror Task Force’ investigation that began June 2, within hours of a  police shooting that killed Usaama Rahim of Roslindale, MA, targeted in a recent terrorism investigation involving him and David Wright of Everett, MA. Court documents connected to that investigation reference a meeting between the men and one other on a Rhode Island beach.
Police and the FBI have declined to comment on a possible connection between the two investigations. Officials  have also not released details of their investigation, nor have they commented on the reason they spent several hours, from 9:30 a.m. June 2 until 1 p.m. the next day, at the home.
Rovinsky, a man in his 20s, grew up in the neigborhood, according to neighbors. He once held a job delivering the Warwick Beacon, and was considered a quiet, kind person.
After investigators had left the home June 3, one woman, who asked not to be identified, said she’d seen the young man at the library not long ago.
“He actually seemed just as kind as he was before,” she said.
Recently, she said, he’d begun wearing a beard and a robe. She said aside from those changes in his appearance, he seemed like the same good person. She said she thought it was more likely he had befriended someone in a bad crowd and drawn investigators’ attention that way than for becoming some kind of threat himself.
“It would shock me if he ever was,” she said.
Rovinski has been active online on social media services including Fubar.com, Myspace.com and Youtube.com.
On Youtube, Rovinski followed survivalist channels and videos showing how to make a machete without power tools. He also subscribed to the channel of Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohamad, a radical islamist cleric who praised the Sept. 11 bombers and has been linked to terrorism, according to independent.co.uk.
His Myspace account lists Cold Play, Nine Inch Nails and the deathcore band Suicide Silence among his top musical picks.
City records list Lori Rovinski as the current owner at the house. Reporters and news crews approached the door en masse June 3, but a woman spoke from behind the door to say she didn’t want to speak to the press.
Nicholas Rovinski is expected to appear in federal court Friday, according to CBS Boston.
Author: Rob Borkowski
Rob has worked as reporter and editor for several publications, including The Kent County Daily Times and Coventry Courier, before working for Gatehouse in MA then moving home with Patch Media. Now he's publisher and editor of WarwickPost.com. Contact him at [email protected] with tips, press releases, advertising inquiries, and concerns.
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