Ex-Iowa police chief gets 60-month sentence in illegal firearms case

July 3 (UPI) -- A police chief in a small Iowa town has been slapped with a 60-month federal prison sentence for illegally possessing a machine gun and making false statements to authorities, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Bradley Eugene Wendt, former chief of police in Adair, Iowa, and owner of a firearms supply business in nearby Denison, Iowa, was found guilty by a jury of one count of conspiracy to make false statements to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and eight counts of making a false statement to the ATF, federal prosecutors in Des Moines said in a statement .

Authorities accused Wendt of buying machine guns for the Adair Police Department but later reselling the weapons via his gun dealership at a personal profit of nearly $80,000 by falsely using "demonstration law letters."

Among the weapons he illegally obtained was a .50 caliber machine gun called a "Ma Deuce," which prosecutors say he "immediately mounted to his personally owned armored Humvee."

Wendt also personally possessed a belt-fed, M60 machine gun registered to the Adair Police Department, which authorities said he allowed members of public to shoot for a fee during an event held in April 2022.

During his trial, Wendt insisted he had talked with ATF officials and was under the impression all of his transactions were legal, but prosecutors countered there was no plausible reason for a town of fewer than 1,000 people to acquire such heavy weaponry, the Des Moines Register reported .

They also pointed to texts and emails sent by Wendt to friends bragging about how he was using his post as police chief to obtain and sell firearms.

"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. "The FBI remains steadfast in aggressively investigating and bringing to justice those who misuse their authority for personal gain."

The former police chief was fined $50,000 and will be required to serve a three-year term of supervised release upon completion of his 60-month prison sentence.