An Iowa police chief who also owned a gun store was sentenced this week to five years in federal prison for a scheme to illegally acquire and sell machine guns, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa announced Wednesday.
Bradley Eugene Wendt, 47, owner of BW Outfitters and Chief of Police for Adair, Iowa, since July 2018, was convicted by a jury of one count of conspiring to make false statements to the ATF, eight counts of making false statements to the ATF, and illegal possession of a machine gun.
"At its core this case was about false statements, driven by the personal ambition of man who saw his badge as a means to an end, rather than a calling," U.S. Attorney Richard Westphal said in a statement.
According to court documents, between July 2018 and August 2022, Wendt used his position as police chief to fraudulently obtain machine guns for his personal use and to sell for his personal profit.
Machine guns manufactured after May 1986 are generally illegal to transfer and possess. One exception allows law enforcement agencies to purchase machine guns for official use, and allows gun dealers to obtain machine guns to demonstrate to law enforcement for potential future purchase.
In order to purchase or receive a demonstration of a machine gun, a police department must submit a "law letter" to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) requesting authorization.
Wendt wrote nearly 40 law letters to the ATF requesting the purchase or demonstration of 90 machine guns for the Adair Police Department between July 2018 and August 2022. In the letters, Wendt claimed the machine guns were for department use and not for resale. Adair Police is just a two-man department.
Evidence presented at trial showed Wendt purchased machine guns for the police department, but resold them at a personal profit of nearly $80,000. Wendt also used some of the law letters to purchase "demonstration" machine guns for his store, BW Outfitters, including a .50 caliber machine gun called a "Ma Deuce," which he mounted to his personal armored Humvee.
In April 2022, Wendt hosted a machine gun shoot and charged members of the public to shoot machine guns, including guns registered to the police department.
The jury convicted Wendt of one count of illegal possession of a machine gun for his personal possession of a belt-fed, M60 machine gun registered to the Adair Police Department.
Along with five years in prison, Wendt was sentenced to three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine.
"We expect law enforcement officers to uphold their oath to protect and serve our communities. Instead, Brad Wendt broke the law and betrayed the community by unlawfully obtaining and selling firearms for his own personal profit," said FBI Omaha Special Agent in Charge Eugene Kowel.
"Wendt was held accountable for committing a betrayal of the public's trust by engaging in this machine gun trafficking scheme for personal gain," said Gordon N. Mallory, Acting Special Agent in Charge of ATF's Kansas City Division. "This sentence sends a loud message to anyone in public service: if they betray their oath of office and their responsibility to their community, they will be held accountable."
--with reporting by TMX
