Adair police chief Bradley Wendt convicted of conspiracy, lying to obtain machine guns

A small-town Iowa police chief has been convicted of abusing his authority to buy or request demonstrations of dozens of federally regulated machine guns, a jury decided Wednesday.

Bradley Wendt, chief of the three-man Adair Police Department, was found guilty on 11 of 15 federal charges after a six-day trial. The jury began deliberating shortly after noon Tuesday, and the verdict was read Wednesday at 3:15 p.m.

The case centered on Wendt's dual status as both a police chief and owner of two Iowa gun stores. Under federal law, most machine guns cannot be sold or transferred unless for use by or demonstration to a law enforcement agency.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives requires a purchase order or authorization letter from a police agency before approving such a transfer.

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Prosecutors said Wendt falsely told the ATF the weapons he wanted transferred to his gun store were for his police department, when in fact he wanted them for his own use and eventual resale. He also was charged with conspiring with two other gun store owners to help them acquire machine guns on false pretenses, and with illegally using a gun registered to the Adair Police Department for a machine gun shoot organized by his private gun store.

All told, Wendt signed more than 30 letters seeking approval to transfer 90 weapons, although his attorneys noted that nearly half of those transfers never took place. In each letter, he specified that the transfer would be for the official use of or demonstration for possible purchase of the guns by the city of Adair, which prosecutors argued was flatly implausible.

"The Adair Police Department did not need to order for demonstration or purchase 90 machine guns for some Goldilocks-style effort to find just the right fit," prosecutor Mikaela Shotwell told the jurors.

Prosecutors: Wendt abused position for personal gain

Prosecutors focused on 13 letters in which, they argued, Wendt's statements were clearly false. The jury found him guilty on nine of those charges.

In one letter seeking approval to purchase three MP7 submachine guns, Wendt certified that the weapons were for official use and not for resale or transfer. In fact, when the guns arrived more than a year later, Wendt posted them for sale in "new in the box" condition within six months, profiting personally by $60,000 on the sales.

On the same day the third was sold, Wendt submitted a new letter seeking to buy three more MP7s — although, his attorneys argued, of a slightly different model with different features.

Other letters prosecutors presented as evidence included one Wendt wrote seeking a demonstration of a G36C assault rifle. Not only did Wendt write the letter for a Florida gun shop as a favor to a friend of a friend, prosecutors said, but he'd already written three such letters for G36Cs and had been given a demonstration by at least one of the recipients previously.

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Wendt also wrote letters seeking and in some cases getting approval to purchase heavy crew-served military machine guns, one of which he mounted on his personal Humvee.

Perhaps most brazen, according to prosecutors, were the letters he wrote asking for demonstrations of MP5 and MP7 submachine guns by a firearms dealer in Alabama.

"In these letters, the defendant is asking for a demonstration of the exact guns he is selling so he can decide if he wants to buy them," prosecutor Mikaela Shotwell told jurors. "That's the only way he's going to see that $30,000 profit."

In fact, Shotwell said, Wendt repeatedly told friends on Facebook he needed the chief of police job, and the authority to write ATF law letters that came with it, specifically to acquire more machine guns.

"This chief of police gig is awesome. Send machine guns to my own gun store," he told one online acquaintance.

Wendt takes the stand to defend purchases

On Monday, Wendt testified in his defense, saying that each letter he submitted sought weapons he sincerely thought might benefit the police department.

Wendt said that while working for the Dennison Police Department, he'd advocated to obtain machine guns in case officers were forced to respond to an active shooter. After becoming chief in Adair, he had the same concern, and said he looked for guns with interesting or innovative features and signed demonstration letters for them.

Even for guns not typically associated with police work, such as the 50-caliber "Ma Deuce" M2 machine gun Wendt mounted on his car, he testified that he needed to see a demonstration to know whether it would be suitable for Adair. Several such guns are owned by Iowa police departments, he said, and Adair officers could conceivably be called on to assist the military.

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"This particular machine gun, if you come across it working with another department, the officers should be familiar with it," he said.

Under cross-examination, he maintained it was reasonable to request demonstrations of dozens of weapons, even those with little obvious relevance to police work.

"You have to determine if it is suitable or not suitable, and how would you do that without a demonstration?" he asked.

Guilty of conspiring with other gun stores

Wendt also was found guilty of conspiracy, as well as the charge related to the machine gun shoot.

Prosecutors alleged two separate conspiracies involving Wendt. In the first, he wrote several letters to authorize the transfer of two-dozen weapons to an Indiana dealer, Johnathan Marcum, 10 of which were eventually received.

Jurors heard that Marcum was expected to send some of the profits from reselling the guns to Wendt for the Adair Police Department. Prosecutors introduced as evidence messages between the two in which Wendt commented, "I'm sure it will benefit us both," to which Marcum replied, "Oh it definitely will. We're going to make some money."

The second alleged conspiracy involved an Iowa friend, Robert Williams, who opened his own gun store and who initially was charged alongside Wendt. Prosecutors said the two had an understanding that Williams would buy whatever machine guns he wanted and Wendt would then write letters claiming they were needed for demonstrations.

Wendt testified that he never accepted money from Marcum and blamed the other dealer, who by then was cooperating with the ATF, for "ghosting" him and never demonstrating any of the weapons he'd obtained.

As for Williams, he said, the other man was a regular at his store and the two had frequent conversations about what kinds of weapons he'd want to see for the police department.

Jurors convicted Wendt of conspiring with both Williams and Marcum to make false statements to the ATF, although they rejected prosecutors' alternate theory that Wendt conspired to defraud the federal agency.

Court records show charges against Williams were later dismissed. His company, Williams Contracting, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was fined $40,000 in November. He did not testify in Wendt's trial.

Defense calls verdict split, says it will appeal

In a statement following the verdict, Wendt's attorney, Nick Klinefeldt, said he plans to appeal.

"Today, we received a split verdict," Klinefeldt wrote. "The jury found that Brad Wendt acted in good faith and never intended to be deceitful or dishonest with the ATF. The jury also found that the initial statements Mr. Wendt made to the ATF were not false in any way.

"Unfortunately, the jury did find that some of Mr. Wendt’s subsequent statements to the ATF were technically false and that he broke the law by bringing a machine gun he purchased for the Adair Police Department to a public machine gun shoot where both law enforcement and the public could shoot it. However, those verdicts were based on jury instructions that we plan to appeal," Klinefeldt wrote.

"This has been a hard fought case with significant, complex legal issues involving the meaning of certain ATF requirements," he added. "We continue to believe that Brad Wendt never broke the law and that ultimately he will be vindicated completely in this case."

A sentencing date for Wendt is pending.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Bradley Wendt trial: Adair police chief found guilty of lying to ATF