Former Taneytown Police Chief Sentenced To Federal Prison For Illegal Transfer, Possession Of Machine Gun
TANEYTOWN, Md. (WJZ) — William Tyler, the former police chief in Taneytown is sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for the illegal transfer and possession of a machine gun.
The 56-year-old Pennsylvania man transferred two machine guns owned and registered to the Taneytown Police Department to himself and another officer for their personal use in 2017, according to his guilty plea.
Government prosecutors said he kept one and gave the other away to the other officer and failed to report that he had taken either.
Law enforcement searched the homes of Tyler and the other officer, with a search warrant, and recovered the machine guns.
Tyler lied to FBI and ATF agents, though he was warned it is a crime to make a materially false statement or representation to federal agents, and told agents he had never fired the .223 caliber machine gun and didn't know it was automatic when he had fired it, according to his guilty plea.