By Allan Lengel
A U.S. Navy sailor faces sentencing next March 31 after being convicted last week by a federal jury in Norfolk, Va., of possessing and selling unregistered machine guns in what turned out to be an undercover ATF operation.
Patrick Tate Adamiak, 28, was convicted Friday.
Authorities charged that between October 2021 and April 2022, Adamiak obtained illegal machine guns and was selling them online.
ATF purchased eight machine guns from him through a confidential source. They then executed a search warrant at Adamiak’s residence and recovered 25 additional unregistered machine guns, plus two grenade launchers and two antitank missile launchers.
Adamiak is a Master at Arms in the U.S. Navy, the Justice Department said in a press release.
