MADISON, Wis. (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 rounds into the U.S.
Jacob and Darin Dowd ran a gun dealership in Vacaville, California, federal prosecutors say in online court records. In June 2021, Jacob Dowd submitted an application to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fires and Explosives to import about 490,000 armor-piercing rounds from Smart Energeo Sistemi, an arms company based in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Federal law generally bars importation of such ammunition but makes an exception for law enforcement agencies. The brothers’ application stated that the ammunition was for “law enforcement sales,” according to prosecutors. It included a purchase order for 1.5 million rounds from James Bushey, then chief of police in the Town of Linn, a community of about 2,700 people in southeastern Wisconsin…