Prosecutors say Wisconsin police chief helped California gun dealers’ illegal ammo import scheme
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) — Two California brothers could each face up to five years in prison for allegedly recruiting a small-town Wisconsin police chief to help them illegally import nearly half a million armor-piercing bullets into the United States.
Jacob and Darin Dowd ran a gun dealership in Vacaville, California, federal prosecutors say in online court records. In June 2021, Jacob Dowd filed an application with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire and Explosives to import approximately 490,000 armor-piercing rounds from Smart Energeo System, a weapons company based in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Federal law generally prohibits the import of such ammunition but makes an exception for law enforcement. The brothers’ application stated that the ammunition was intended for “sale to law enforcement”, according to prosecutors. This included a purchase order for 1.5 million rounds of ammunition from James Bushey, then the police chief of Linn Township, a community of about 2,700 people in southeastern Wisconsin.
This purchase order apparently caught the attention of investigators, and the ATF ultimately halted the imports. “TLPD is a small police department,” prosecutors wrote. “He had no intention of purchasing the ammunition, did not have the money to purchase the ammunition, and was not using the ammunition in a legitimate manner.”
Prosecutors allege the Dowds approached Bushey using a Wisconsin resident as an intermediary. Court documents identify this person only as JW, but news outlets report that the person is one of Bushey’s former roommates.
Prosecutors said the brothers told the chief they would give him money to buy squad cars and other equipment to help advance his career if he signed a false purchase order supporting their import application. Bushey agreed to this by creating a fake order on department letterhead.
A search warrant said the town board signed off on the deal after Bushey told members the Dowds would donate the ammunition to the police department, Wisconsin Pubic Radio reported. However, Bushey did not tell the board that he would receive payment for submitting the fraudulent purchase order.
Prosecutors allege in court documents that the brothers intended to sell the ammunition to “other buyers”; These documents do not disclose the names of the alleged buyers, but they also do not suggest that the munitions were used in any type of attack.
Darin Dowd was charged with conspiracy last July and pleaded guilty in October. He has not been sentenced yet. Jacob Dowd was charged with conspiracy last week and agreed to plead guilty at a May 19 hearing, according to his online plea agreement and court schedule. Each faces up to five years in federal prison.
Neither Jacob Dowd’s attorney, Julian Linnen, nor his brother’s attorney, Paul Janmuzzo, immediately responded to emails seeking comment Monday.
Bushey was not charged. The Associated Press could not find a phone list or other contact information for him or his attorney, if he has one. A message left on a possible LinkedIn account for him was not immediately responded to.
Linn’s interim police chief, Graham Gunyon, said Bushey left the department voluntarily. He was replaced by Jon Albrecht in March 2022, according to the department’s Facebook page, but Albrecht left in March to become chief in nearby Elkhorn, Wisconsin.
Gunyon declined to provide Bushey’s contact information. He also declined to comment on the former chief’s alleged role in the import scheme or what Bushey said to the city board. The board president and four other members did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Monday.
Steve Caballero, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Milwaukee, declined to comment when asked whether Bushey was under investigation. An FBI spokesman did not immediately respond to a message.
