The chief of the city police in Iowa was engaged in the resale of machine guns
"This is America" section. In Adair, Iowa, a city of about 800 people known locally as "the happiest town on earth" (due to its smiley-face water tower), the town's police chief decided to have a blast.
Bradley Wendt, 46, requested about 4 machine guns for the city police department over a four-year period from 2018 to 2022. The federal Department of Justice became interested and eventually charged Wendt and his friend with conspiracy to defraud the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and illegal possession of machine guns.
Some members of the city council knew that he bought 10 machine guns and 6 of them were discovered and seized during a search right in the city administration building. Wendt sent false letters to the Bureau stating that machine guns were being used for police work and for demonstration purposes.
In total, Wendt purchased 10 machine guns, attempted to purchase 15 more, and formally requested 65 weapons for display. But in the end he simply sold them and rented them out. or stored for further sale. In December 2020, he purchased 3 machine guns worth $2080 with his own funds under the pretext of transferring them to his police department, but instead sold two of them to Florida for $50.
According to the indictment, in January 2021, Wendt approached one of the manufacturers with a request to sell him a minigun - a 50-caliber machine gun with a 4-round magazine and a rate of fire of 50 bullets per second, which is usually installed on military helicopters. But the Adair police do not have helicopters, but Wendt still made a deposit of 40 thousand dollars, and in a letter to the Bureau indicated that the machine gun was needed for “suppressive fire.”
Among the items seized was another .50-caliber machine gun, which Wendt purchased for $17896 for police display. The head of the local police installed it on his armored Humvee and offered everyone to shoot with it, but not for free, but for $5 per cartridge. City officials say no government funds were used to purchase the machine guns, and Wendt himself, who now faces up to 10 years in prison, has been placed on indefinite leave.
Author: Yan Veselov
