Police Chief Abused Position to Illegally Acquire Machine Guns, Sell Them at His Gun Store

Wendt purchased dozens of machine guns for his two-person police station, but instead of using them for law enforcement, prosecutors say he sold them for profit to other firearms dealers and from his own gun shop.

Wendt, 47, had been the Adair police chief since 2018. He also owns two firearm supply stores called BW Outfitters, one in Anita, Iowa and another in Denison, Iowa. The Denison store is a federal firearm licensee, which allowed Wendt to purchase machine guns under the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act. From 2018 to 2022, Wendt tried to obtain 90 machine guns for personal use and profit.

“Since approximately July 2018, Wendt exploited his position as the Adair Chief of Police to obtain and possess machine guns not legally available to the public,” said prosecutors in Wendt’s indictment.

 “Since approximately July 2018, Wendt exploited his position as the Adair Chief of Police to obtain and possess machine guns not legally available to the public,”

said prosecutors in Wendt’s indictment.

Wendt obtained the firearms through fraudulent “law letters” to the ATF stating that the guns were being purchased for official use or for demonstration “to evaluate them” for potential future purchase.

During his time as chief of police, Wendt sent over 50 of these law letters in an effort to obtain 90 machine guns. For context, a 2020 census indicates that the City of Adair’s population hovers around just less than 800 and its police department is staffed by only two full-time officers, including Wendt.

While Wendt didn’t get all 90 machine guns, he was able to obtain 10 for the police department (though he tried to get an additional 15) and another 13 for BW Outfitters. He ultimately tried to obtain 65 more machine guns through falsified law letters. He was able to get another 27 machine guns on behalf of Williams Contracting LLC, which became an FFL-SOT (Federal Firearms License-Special Occupational Taxpayer) in 2020, allowing that store to also sell fully automatic firearms “in certain circumstances.”

The owner of Williams Contracting is Robert Allen Williams, a friend of Wendt who is also named in the indictment.

The indictment further details how Wendt personally profited to the tune of $80,000 in sales of these firearms to private buyers in Florida and Alabama through GunBroker.com. In addition to obtaining machine guns for resale by lying to the ATF, both Wendt and Williams hosted a “public machine gun shoot” where people were charged per round based on the type of machine gun. One of the guns used in the public shoot was an M60, belt-fed machine gun. To set up these public shoots, Wendt allowed his significant other (not a sworn officer) to use one of the machine guns purchased for the Adair Police Department, then posted the video online with the tagline “Come shoot mp7 April 16th.”

In another abuse of his role as chief of police, Wendt obtained a .50 caliber, belt-fed machine gun through a fraudulent letter stating that it was “‘ideal’ for the Adair Police Department ‘based on its price and availability.’” He then mounted the gun to his personally-owned armored Humvee and charged $5 per round at the April 16, 2022 shoot, said the indictment.

In the United States, it is illegal to import, purchase, or possess fully automatic weapons made after 1986, and any sale, transfer, or import of a machine gun must first be approved by the ATF.

“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 in the press release.

 “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 in the press release.

In addition to the five-year sentence, which is not eligible for parole, Wendt must pay a $50,000 fine and serve a three-year supervised release.