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Courts sentenced a small-town sheriff from Iowa to five years of prison for attempting to sell machine guns illegally.
The sheriff began the trials nearly two years ago when an indictment announced his charges. The man, 47-year-old Bradley Eugene Wendt, has been sheriff since 2018.
The 2022 indictment, posted online by the Daily Muck, accused Wendt of attempting to sell 90 machine guns to the public.
In February 2024, a jury convicted the fallen sheriff of his charges. The jury expected that he would serve five years of prison time. This would not be certain though, until the sentencing.
Former Sheriff Sentenced
On July 1st, 2024, KCCI-TV broke the news of the sentencing. Wendt is to serve, “60 months in federal prison.”
His charges included “conspiring to make false statements to the ATF, making false statements to the ATF, and illegal possession of a machine gun.”
According to KCCI-TV, after the sentencing, “Wendt was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshal immediately following Monday’s sentencing hearing.”
What He Did
Wendt used his position as sheriff to buy the guns for several small stores he owned. A press release from the Iowa Department of Justice explained how he could buy machine guns as sheriff.
During his time as sheriff, “Wendt wrote nearly 40 law letters, requesting the purchase or demonstration of 90 machine guns for the Adair Police Department.”
The small town of Adair has a population of about 800 people. Two deputies serve under the sheriff to uphold the law.
Things Start Going Downhill
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) questioned Wendt about his dealings with the machine guns.
Wendt and an accomplice, 46-year-old Robert Williams owned several firearm stores. According to AP News, the two sold the machine guns at these stores “for almost $80,000 personal profit.”
It is illegal to sell guns acquired by the Police Department to the public. Newly-made machine guns are also not available to the general public under laws governing fully-automatic firearms.
Wendt and Williams then attempted to lie to the ATF, claiming that they had not sold any of the machine guns.
A Guilty Sheriff
The Justice Department press release described evidence used to prove Wendt guilty. As a sheriff, he wrote “nearly 40 law letters,” in which he eventually requested about 90 of the guns.
Higher-ups denied him of some but got his hands on quite a few. According to AP News, Nicholas Klinefeldt, Wendt’s defense attorney, “found the sentencing disappointing.”
“The government was allowed to convict Mr. Wendt based on an interpretation of the law that has never before been applied by any court, and that we believe was incorrect,” Klinefeldt said.
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After serving his ordered five years in prison, Wendt will not be finished with his recompense. He also has to pay a $50,000 fine and spend three years on probation.
Because his crime is federally sentenced, the sheriff is not eligible for parole.
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Why is this even a crime? Sure, he conspired to obtain and profit from the sale of machine guns but is that a crime? It may be a federal statute but any federal statute in violation of the Constitution is null and void.
I wonder if this guy is buddies w/ Clark Co., Indiana ex-sheriff Jamie Noel? Maybe they can share a cell.
Perhaps an LEO out there could tell me why automatic weapons
are needed in that occupation ( aside from idiots with “ Glock switches “ ) .
Call me backwards , know nothing , etc. but I am a firm believer in
the old saying , “ may all your enemies be on full auto .”
It is quite easy to take care of business at 300 yards with my M1A and
proper training than to maneuver under suppressing fire . I am not being
flippant , impertinent or any other adjective one wishes to use , I am merely
at a loss in understanding .
Thanks for any input that may be submitted .
And , no , I do not have nor want a “ tax stamp “ .
Hey let’s see if we can find out how many of those full-auto firearms have been recovered. And if any of those illegal buyers will be changed.
There are two types of cops.
Those who’ve been caught.
And those who haven’t.
I won’t go quite that far but he was obviously bad at both being a gun store owner and sheriff since law letter machine guns are only transferable to law enforcement and sot/ffl’s