Some argue the ATF should return to its original mission. But this is its original mission. The ATF is a federal agency policing a constitutional right alongside alcohol and tobacco, with broad, extrajudicial powers and little accountability.
The government’s case against Patrick “Tate” Adamiak was led by two Assistant U.S. Attorneys, but their main witness became the real reason why a jury found Adamiak guilty, and a federal judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
To be clear, Adamiak was railroaded by Jeffrey R. Bodell, who works out of a small ATF office in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
According to documents obtained by the Second Amendment Foundation, Bodell is an ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer, or FEO, who has worked in ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division since he was hired in November 2020.
When he took the stand to testify falsely about what he did to Adamiak’s firearms, Bodell had been an ATF employee for less than two years.
By Lee Williams