A former civil attorney for Faulkner County paid almost $12,000 in state money for what one expert said is the “most powerful legal firearm in America” and then gave it to another county employee, that employee told federal investigators.
That price also included accessories and ammunition.
A summary of federal agents’ interview with County Administrator Jeff Johnston about the Barrett M107 .50-caliber BMG rifle appears in a case file released last week by Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland.
Hiland released the file under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act after he closed the case without charging anyone. The U.S. attorney’s office turned the file over to Hiland’s office earlier this year after it also opted against filing charges, he said.
“After our review, we’re not comfortable that we have evidence sufficient to support a state-level charge,” Hiland said. “Obviously, it was an egregious waste of asset forfeiture dollars that could have been used to support legitimate law-enforcement efforts.”
In addition to Johnston, others mentioned in the file include Stephan Hawks, the county’s former civil attorney; Marcus Vaden, the prosecuting attorney who lost a re-election bid to Hiland in 2010; and Jason Bell, the county’s former roadpolice officer.
None of them had any comment Friday.
On April 8, 2011, the file says, two federal special agents interviewed John-ston, who reportedly told them that he had asked Vaden to buy the rifle for him and that Vaden requested a check from a county funds account.
A county employee later gave the check to Hawks, who had previously been a former deputy prosecutor under Vaden, the file indicates. On Oct. 30, 2008, Johnston reportedly said, he and Hawks went to a North Little Rock weapons store and bought the rifle, a scope, a cleaning kit and an 80-round case of ammunition for $11,874.60.
Hawks completed a federal firearms form advising that he was the actual purchaser and was not buying the rifle for anyone else, the file says.
The shoulder-mounted rifle weighs about 30 pounds and is “the biggest caliber that is legal in America ... the most powerful legal firearm in America,” said Ralph Vaughn, special projects director at the Tennessee-based Barrett Firearms Manufacturing. He said the rifle is banned in California. The defense contractor sells the rifles to the U.S. military and to other countries’ governments approved by the State Department, Vaughn said. The rifle is used by every branch of the U.S. military and by SWAT teams in major cities, he said.
The rifle’s long target range and power - it can shoot through cinder blocks - make it popular for military snipers.
“The U.S. Army record for a confirmed kill in combat [with this kind of rifle] was made in Afghanistan at 1.3 miles,” Vaughn said. The target in that case was a Taliban member, he said.
According to the case file, Johnston said he kept the rifle at his house until the November 2010 election approached.
About a year after buying the gun, Johnston reportedly said he and Hawks were drunk and were shootingthe rifle at Johnston’s residence in Mount Vernon, a rural community. A sheriff’s deputy in the area overheard the gunfire and told them to stop shooting.
Vaughn said the weapon also is popular with collectors, big-game hunters and sports-shooting competitors. But anyone shooting it for fun or competition should do so only on ranges or in wideopen areas, he said.
“Sometime near the election primaries, Johnston gave the gun to Mike [Hutchens,] a friend of Vaden, and he never saw the rifle again. [Hutchens] subsequently gave the rifle to Vaden a few days later,” the file adds.
Hutchens, who formerly worked for Faulkner County, is now the Pulaski County comptroller.
On April 21, 2011, two federal agents interviewed Hawks. Hawks, who resigned as county attorney in June, told the agents that in October 2008 Vaden gave him a check signed by Vaden andan administrative assistant and directed Hawks to take Johnston to the store to get the rifle.
“During a discussion on the way ... [Johnston] told Hawks that he had talked Vaden into purchasing the rifle,” the file relates.
Hawks told the agents he had never taken the rifle to his home and that he had shot it only twice. “He stated that he ... knows nothing about a .50 caliber rifle,” the file adds.
When reminded that he had indicated on a form that he was the actual buyer, Hawks said he was just doing what he was told to do by purchasing the gun, the file related.
“He stated [the reason he bought the gun] was because Marcus wanted it and told him to get it. He was not sure why Marcus Vaden would want a .50 caliber rifle. He stated it was not his position to question Marcus Vaden,” the file says.
In an interview, Hiland called the transaction “a straight-up straw purchase,” referring to the practice of one person pretending to buy a gun but actually getting it for someone else.
Hiland said he was told about the rifle’s existence shortly after he took office in January 2011 when a drug task force agent told him it was in an evidence locker in the force’s Clinton office and that the agent didn’t know “where it came from or who owns it.”
They agreed to ask the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to trace the serial number, which showed that Hawks was the owner. The ATF then began an investigation.
Hiland said it was his understanding that the U.S. attorney’s office declined to prosecute in the case.
“We have a very good working relationship with the U.S. attorney’s office, and we have a lot of confidence in their judgment in making prosecutorial decisions,” Hiland said. “But as for the specifics of why they didn’t prosecute, you’d need to visitwith them on that.”
Assistant U.S. attorney Pat Harris, contacted by telephone Friday, said he would call back shortly but never did. Grover Crossland, resident agent in charge of the ATF’s Little Rock office, did not return a phone message.
Hiland would not say whether Johnston had been given immunity from federal prosecution. Johnston was recently charged with felony theft of property in Faulkner County over an unrelated driveway-asphalting project.
Johnston referred questions to Joe Don Winningham, his attorney in the asphalt case. Winningham declined to comment. Vaden, Hawks and Bell did not return phone messages seeking comment.
The case file also deals with Bell, a former sheriff’s deputy who became a roadpolice officer in 2008 and who was recently fired.
Johnston told investigators that on July 15, 2009, Bell had reported a county-owned Glock Model 23 pistol stolen from his Conway apartment earlier that month.
When a police officer was taking a report on the matter, he saw a Mini-14 rifle in Bell’s apartment, Johnston told the agents. Bell told the officer that the Mini-14 wasn’t stolen during the burglary, according to Johnston.
Yet in an undated letter Bell wrote to the ATF and that the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette obtained earlier this summer, Bell wrote that a Mini-14 rifle and a shotgun he had been issued were stolen during a burglary of his apartment.
The reason for the conflicting information was unclear Friday.
For now, the .50-caliber rifle is locked up in the Faulkner County sheriff ’s office.
Hiland said his authorities are exploring their options of what to do with the rifle.
Vaughn suggested that a National Guard unit “would be thrilled” to have it. Another possibility, he said, is a law-enforcement agency in a major city.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 13 on 09/30/2012