By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
Special to Liberty Park Press
Patrick “Tate” Adamiak never demonstrated at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. He was not one of the more than 1,500 defendants arrested, jailed and then pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Adamiak never committed 10 counts of wire fraud, four counts of attempted extortion, two counts of conspiracy to corruptly solicit funds and making false statements, like former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, and he wasn’t serving life behind bars plus 40-years for alleged computer crimes like Ross Ulbricht, better known as “Dread Pirate Roberts,” both of whom President Trump pardoned earlier this month.
Adamiak committed no crime, so why is he still serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey?
Because the ATF screwed up, and they would rather charge an innocent man and force him to serve two decades behind bars than admit the truth – that their special agents don’t have a clue about what they’re doing.
Adamiak, who is now 31, was a 28-year-old E-6 in the U.S. Navy prior to his arrest. He enjoyed firearms and ran a website that sold gun parts – not guns. He was always extremely careful about what he sold. After all, he had to protect his naval career, which was doing extremely well. Adamiak had already been accepted into Naval Special Warfare, so exciting things were soon headed his way.
But after their informant lied and dozens of heavily armed ATF agents kicked open Adamiak’s door during a search warrant, nothing illegal was found. As a result, the ATF was forced to call in their ringer, Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bodell.
Once the ATF turned the case over to Bodell, Adamiak’s innocence no longer mattered. Bodell would break the rules. He actually turned toys into firearms, legal RPGs into destructive devices and 100% legal semi-autos into machineguns.
- Bodell inserted a real STEN action and a real STEN barrel into Adamiak’s toy STEN submachinegun and got it to fire one round, even though the toy’s receiver wouldn’t accept a real STEN magazine. Bodell actually classified the toy, which are very popular, as a machinegun. The toy STENs are still completely legal and widely sold.
- Bodell test fired five of Adamiak’s very expensive and extremely collectible legal semi-autos, which fire from an open bolt. All the ATF technician could achieve was semi-auto fire, but that didn’t stop him. He classified all five highly sought after pistols as machineguns. These semi-autos are still legal, very collectible and widely sold. Today, one can fetch from $3,000 to $5,000, and they can still be purchased just like any other firearm, with only an ATF Form 4473 and background check.
- Bodell ruled that several receivers that had been cut in half were actually machineguns. The same parts are still legally sold online and do not even require any paperwork.
- Bodell actually rebuilt three of Adamiak’s inert RPGs, which had holes drilled into their receivers and were stripped of internal parts. Bodell added parts from ATF’s real RPGs until they would fire a single subcaliber 7.62x39mm round. As a result, he classified the RPGs as destructive devices, even though to this day they’re completely legal and widely sold.
All of what Bodell insisted were illegal items are still sold legally online: Inert RPGs, toy STENs, submachinegun receivers and especially open-bolt semi-autos. The RPGs, toy STENs and submachinegun receivers don’t require any paperwork to purchase.
Despite Bodell’s and the ATF’s untruths, an anti-gun judge crippled Adamiak’s defense. One of his defense experts, an actual former ATF official, wasn’t even allowed to testify much.
As a result, Adamiak was found guilty and sentenced to 20-years in prison, despite the fact that everything he possessed is still completely legal and that he had never committed any crime.
Unlike the ATF, the U.S. Navy never believed Adamiak did anything wrong. After he was incarcerated, the Navy allowed him to take leave, and he eventually got out as an E-6. If they had believed the charges against Adamiak, the Navy would have quickly busted him down to E-1.
Presidential pardon
President Trump has accomplished far more during his first few months in office than Joe Biden ever did in four years. Everyone, including Adamiak, understands how busy the president is every single minute of the day.
So, why should the President of the United States whose plate is already full take the time to pardon a former sailor?
The answer is simple: It’s clearly the right thing to do.
If Trump pardons Adamiak some may balk, but not anyone with any commonsense. Adamiak was willing to risk his life for this country as a member of the Navy’s most elite unit. That will never change. So, the country should repay his bravery and his loyalty. President Trump can do just that.
I have written hundreds of stories about ATF’s illegal mistakes and screwups during the past decade, but I have never seen one as bad as Adamiak’s case, and more than one million people have agreed. The ATF lied under oath and an innocent man was sentenced to two decades in a federal prison for crimes he never committed, rather than admitting that they screwed up and that their informant was completely wrong.
I hope President Trump will pardon Adamiak and allow the young man to restart his life. As stated, it’s clearly the right thing to do.
Adamiak was busy rereading the 2,800 pages of transcripts from his case Monday afternoon.
“I did nothing wrong. I would have never been arrested if Trump was in office. I want a pardon because I want my rights back,” Adamiak said from prison. “I truly want to serve my country again, which I can’t do as a convicted felon.”
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