Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
Bradley Wendt knows he may be in some trouble. But he’s holding out hope that being criminally charged with lying to the feds while selling machine guns for a profit—allegations he denies—might not be the career setback it looks like.
The police chief of Adair, Iowa, a tiny town of about 800 people with three other officers on its force, Wendt was placed on leave in September after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) raided his office and his two gun stores.
This week, the feds detailed their case against him, saying Wendt obtained dozens of machine guns for his trio of cops over the last four years. According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, Wendt was exploiting his law enforcement position to obtain military-level weaponry that he resold in his private gun stores—and his buddy’s separate firearms business.