Brothers' Armor-Piercing Bullet Scheme Exposed

0:00It's April 27th. This is Canada News today, AI-powered stories from your city. Two California brothers, Darin and Jacob Dowd, face up to five years in federal prison each for plotting to sneak nearly half a million armor piercing, bullets into the country. They allegedly roped in the police chief from Tiny Lin, Wisconsin, to sign a bogus purchase order that made the import look legit. Prosecutors say the brothers used a middleman, one of the chiefs' old roommates, to pitch the deal. In exchange for the fake paperwork on official letterhead, they promised cash for squad cars and gear to boost his career. The chief went along, but the town board only approved after he pitched it as a free ammo donation. Word got out when investigators spotted the shady order from such a small department with no budget or need for that much firepower. ATF agents shut it down before any bullets crossed the border, and the brothers planned to flip the ammo to other buyers, not for any attacks. Darin copped a plea back in October after charges last July, with sentencing still pending.

1:04Jacob just got hit with conspiracy charges last week, and agreed to plead guilty at a hearing on May 19th. The whole scheme exposed how easy it seemed to game the system. Meanwhile, the ex-chief Tim Bushee hasn't faced charges and bounced from the job on his own. No word from his camp or the feds on any probe, but this bust shows even small town badges can't dodge federal eyes forever.