The Republican deputy mayor of a small town a half hour drive north of New York City was arrested by federal agents Tuesday for having an arsenal of illegal weapons, silencers and fake federal law enforcement identification cards in his Airmont home, NPR reports.
Deputy Mayor Brian Downey, 47, had 16 assault weapons, 13 silencers, and dozens of false identifications. The weapons were all unregistered and two of the weapons, a sawed-off shotgun and a short-barrel AR-15 style rifle, require special federal firearms licenses to possess.
Photos of Downey’s fake identifications show a number of FBI identification cards bearing his photo, as well as more than a dozen fake federal badges and uniform patches. Downey also had a fake badge and identification depicting him as a New York State Court officer. Other agencies Downey claimed to represent were the US Justice Department, the US Marshal Service, the US Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Downey claimed that he was legally allowed to possess the short-barrel weapon because he is a law enforcement officer. That is not actually the law. He now faces a federal indictment on more than 30 charges.