Former Iowa police chief sentenced to five years in prison in federal weapons case

DES MOINES, Iowa — The former police chief of a small Iowa town has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for lying to authorities to obtain machine guns that prosecutors say he sold for personal gain.

Former Adair Police Chief Brad Wendt was convicted in February of conspiracy to make false statements to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, making false statements to the agency and illegal possession of a machine gun. He was sentenced Monday, KCCI-TV reported.

Wendt was indicted in December 2022. Authorities said he bought machine guns for police and then sold them for a personal profit of nearly $80,000. Evidence at the trial showed he used the letters to buy machine guns for his gun shop, including a .50-caliber machine gun that he mounted on his own armored Humvee, federal prosecutors said.

Wendt’s attorney, Nicholas Klinefeldt, said in February that the jury convicted him based on faulty instructions and that an appeal was planned. A message was left for Klinefeldt on Tuesday.

Adair has a population of about 800. Wendt became police chief in July 2018.