How ATF Re-Worked Legal, Inert RPGs to Put an American in Jail for Two Decades

rpg rocket propelled grenade
Image: GunBroker

For those seeking to add some flair to their man cave, inert or nonfiring rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers may satisfy your needs. GunBroker.com offers inert RPG-2 rockets for $120.00, a non-firing RPG-7 replica for $395.00, or an inert Russian RPG-2 rocket launcher package with rocket, firing pin and hard case for $1,200.00. Spare ammo, inert RPG-7 HEAT rockets, run around $229.00.

None of these inert launchers require a Federal Firearm License for the purchase because they’re not firearms. They aren’t real. Many have had their internal parts stripped. To be clear, these are non-firearms, which are perfectly legal for anyone to buy or own … unless you’re Patrick “Tate” Adamiak.

Adamiak is about to start the third year of his 20-year federal prison sentence because the ATF reworked his legal inert RPGs until they were capable of firing a single 7.62x39mm round.

In other words, ATF turned his inert RPGs into live illegal weapons, which they called “destructive devices.” It shouldn’t come as any surprise. The same ATF technician who reworked the RPGs doctored Adamiak’s toy STEN submachinegunlegally a toy and still available for sale online—until it could fire a single round. Officially, he even labeled it a machinegun.

If it wasn’t for the federal RPG charges, Adamiak would have already finished his prison sentence. As to the fact that the ATF illegally turned his inert RPGs into live destructive devices, no government official seems to care.

“The two RPGs are what added the most amount of time to my prison sentence. Even if all of my other charges were legitimate—which they are not—I would have already completed more than the average sentence for possession of a fully functional machinegun, which I did not have—not even close,” Adamiak said this week from his federal prison in New Jersey.

United States Attorneys Jessica Aber and Victoria Liu were able to convince Adamiak’s jury that the 100% legal inert RPGs he owned were the equivalent of an anti-tank or an anti-aircraft missile system, even though he bought them openly and legally at a military surplus convention and gun show when he was only 19 years old.

“Doing so qualified me for a sentencing enhancement for possession of a missile launcher, effectively pushing up my recommended sentence to life in prison,” Adamiak said. “This particular sentencing enhancement has only been applied to defendants a couple of times in U.S. history, one being me. If it weren’t for this enhancement, I would already be out of prison.”

Background

Adamiak was an active-duty Navy E-6 who was about to enter Naval Special Warfare. He also operated a private website that offered militaria, which was all legal.

“I collected all types of military memorabilia but had a particular interest in historic weaponry. I had dozens of inert or replica grenade launchers, rocket launchers, mines, artillery shells, and various other inert munitions in my collection. The RPGs were the center piece of my collection. They are a piece of iconic military history,” Adamiak explained.

To be clear, the RPGs were inert and nonfunctional. They were marked “Inert” and “Training aid dummy” in bold letters that were professionally engraved and painted.

Adamiak’s RPGs were marked “INERT” and “TRAINING AID DUMMY.” (Photo courtesy of Adamiak)
The serial numbers on Adamiak’s inert RPGs told the real story. Both numbers began with “TAD” for “Training Aid Device.”

“This indicates that they were actually manufactured to be a training aids and not weapons. Also, data plates from legitimate RPG’s always have Cyrillic or Russian letters written on them, which mine did not. This reinforced my belief that they were inert,” he said.

Perhaps the biggest factor that demonstrated that Adamiak’s RPGs were not weapons but training aids were massive holes drilled in the high-pressure area of the tubes – right where an operator’s face would be when firing them.

Holes drilled into Adamiak’s inert RPGs are located where an operator’s face would be when firing. (Photo courtesy of Adamiak)
Even one of the government’s witnesses—Gregory Pruess, a criminal informant who was paid $8,000 for his participation in the case and was told that felony gun charges he faced would be dropped if he helped that ATF secure a conviction against Adamiak—testified that the hole would “blow your head off” if anyone attempted to fire a live rocket from the launcher. 

Perhaps most telling was that Adamiak’s inert RPGs were missing all of the critical fire control components, which were never found in his possession. As a result, case law was on Adamiak’s side. 

According to United States of America, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Douglas Blackburn, Defendant-appellant, 940 F.2d 107 (4th Cir. 1991)a defendant “may be penalized for only the number of destructive devices which may be ‘readily assembled’ from the parts in his possession. A defendant must possess every essential part necessary to construct a destructive device.”

Adamiak had none of the essential parts needed to turn his RPGs into actual weapons.

ATF Misconduct

ATF Firearms Enforcement Officer Jeffrey Bodell, who turned Adamiak’s toy STEN into a machinegun, was the prosecution’s main witness for the RPGs.

Bodell took the inert rocket launchers to the ATF’s lab and added missing fire-control components including a firing pin from a functional RPG from the ATF’s collection. The agent also added a sub-caliber training device, which can fire 7.62x39mm rounds on its own without even loading it into an RPG.

“He fired a 7.62x39mm rifle cartridge through it utilizing the sub-caliber training device, which is a standalone rifle that can be fired independently on its own,” Adamiak said.

Bodell falsely testified that the missing parts didn’t matter, legally.

“It doesn’t matter whether it fires or not, and if it’s missing some component parts, it wouldn’t be relevant to the classification of a destructive device,” Bodell told the court, which is not what the statute or case law state.

Bodell even made a video of him and an assistant firing one rifle round from Adamiak’s heavily converted RPG.

“An RPG is a very simple and crude device,” Adamiak said. “Taking a piece of metal pipe and hose clamping a fire control mechanism to it would effectively duplicate what Bodell did in his testing.”

Truth vs. Absurdity

Adamiak is firmly convinced both RPGs were high-quality replicas made for training. When he transferred from California to the East Coast he flew commercially with them in his luggage, and the TSA never questioned him.

The launchers were displayed openly in his home for nearly a decade. Adamiak never even considered them to be illegal.

His former trial attorneys actually told Adamiak that they were happy he was charged with the RPGs because it was such a ridiculous claim that it would damage the ATF’s credibility and no reasonable jury would convict him for the “toys.”

 

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5 thoughts on “How ATF Re-Worked Legal, Inert RPGs to Put an American in Jail for Two Decades”

  1. Why hasn’t Jeffrey Bodell been given his walking papers by the new ATF administration?

    This is one of the biggest ATF embarrassments in years, and that’s saying something.

    1. “Why hasn’t Jeffrey Bodell been given his walking papers by the new ATF administration?”

      Walking papers?

      Was he not an ACTIVE PARTICIPANT in a section 1983 (?) deprivation of civil rights?

      Why is he not doing 20 years?

  2. There is an enormous number of criminals working for the Federal government who will NEVER face any justice…except for the vigilante type. This story has several.