18-month prison sentence recommended for former Massachusetts cop

BOSTON — Federal prosecutors have recommended an 18-month prison sentence for the former Tyngsboro police officer who pleaded guilty to illegally modifying and selling assault weapons, while conspiring to defraud local banks of more than $9 million in loans for a shooting range.

Prosecutors also recommended Daniel Whitman, 37, of Salisbury, receive three years of supervised release, pay a fine, and forfeit $26,250 cash along with the weapons listed in the indictment, according to documents filed in federal court by U.S. Attorney Rachel Rollin's office.

Whitman is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on Wednesday.

"Few crimes strike at the core of the justice system more than those involving law enforcement officers who choose to break, rather than uphold, the law," prosecutors stated in a sentencing memorandum filed in court on Friday. "Though at its heart a crime motivated by simple greed, the commission of this crime reflects a betrayal of the trust and power granted to those who serve in law enforcement."

Whitman pleaded guilty in October to one count each of bank fraud conspiracy, possession of an unregistered firearm, conspiracy to violate provisions of the National Firearms Act (NFA), making a firearm in violation of the NFA, and transferring a firearm in violation of the NFA; and two counts of both bank fraud, and making false statements to a bank.

An affidavit filed in court in January 2021 by a Homeland Security agent detailed an effort by Whitman and his co-conspirator in the bank fraud and some gun charges, Bin Lu, 50, a Chinese national living in Westford, to convert guns they were legally allowed to repair, buy and sell, into more heavily-regulated short-barrel rifles, which Whitman's firearms store, Hitman Firearms LLC, did not have the proper licenses to carry.

The affidavit states one gun, a complete CMMG MK9 rifle found during a search of the shop, was purchased only as a lower receiver and stock, and was never registered once it was completed as a short-barrel rifle.

According to the affidavit, another gun was found during a search of Lu's vehicle after he showed up at the store on Middlesex Road while the search was ongoing. That gun was a Sig Sauer MCX with a folding stock attached. Federal records show the gun was sold to Hitman as a pistol, without a folding stock, and was never registered as a short-barreled rifle once a stock was attached.

The affidavit also reveals federal agents had searched Whitman's cellphone when he returned to Logan Airport in Boston from Iceland on March 3, 2020. The affidavit says Whitman's phone contained numerous conversations that were seized, as well as a document containing an audit of 45 guns owned by Hitman.

The affidavit states 25 of the firearm were identified as being in the possession of "Bin." Those firearms listed in Lu's possession include the two unlicensed short-barreled rifles. The location of seven of the the other firearms were listed as unknown.

The affidavit also details the plans made by Whitman and Lu to construct and operate a large indoor shooting range, which would also function as a training ground for police officers. The pair sought to build the facility, Freedom Alley Shooting Sports, at 44 Cummings Road in Tyngsboro.

The town granted a special permit for the business venture in 2016, but the plans were never completed.

Prosecutors stated in the sentencing memorandum that Whitman "persuaded Lu" to join him in the venture, adding "Lu trusted Whitman in part because Whitman was a police officer." Whitman had befriended Lu, who had been a customer, and who had invested $100,000 into Hitman.

According to prosecutors, Whitman convinced Lu to purchase the property on Cummings Road for $735,000, agreeing that Whitman would become the joint owner of the property for payment of $1.

Prosecutors said in 2017, Lu used forged marketing materials that Whitman had generated to solicit a $6 million investment from a wealthy Chinese couple, $4 million of which the Chinese investors eventually paid, in exchange for a 79% ownership stake in the proposed shooting range.

According to prosecutors, to evade the Chinese government's detection of the expatriation of such a large sum, Whitman and Lu arranged for friends and relatives to open bank accounts to act as intermediaries between the Chinese investors and Whitman.

Prosecutors said because Whitman determined $4 million was insufficient to fund the project, he applied for bank loans from Lowell Five and Avidia Bank. In the loan applications, prosecutors said Whitman and Lu failed to disclose the Chinese investors and their ownership interest, instead falsely stating that Lu and his wife were the majority shareholders.

According to prosecutors, Whitman ended up spending all $4 million provided by the Chinese couple, and Freedom Alley Shooting Sports defaulted on its obligations to contractors constructing the shooting range, and to Avidia Bank, which had lent $250,000 to the project.

To resolve litigation arising from the defaults, Lu paid $660,712, while Whitman paid "only several thousand dollars," according to prosecutors.

Lu previously pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and possession of an unregistered firearm, and is awaiting sentencing.

Whitman — who had served as a Tyngsboro police officer since 2011 — was put on paid administrative leave in August 2019. In June 2021, when Whitman was indicted by a federal grand jury, the Tyngsboro Board of Selectman voted unanimously to suspend Whitman without pay. Over the nearly two years Whitman did not work, he made nearly $135,000.

Tyngsboro Police Chief Richard Howe said Whitman resigned from the department at the end of August.

"It is important for our residents to understand that this police administration has offered its full cooperation, and support to all involved agencies since first being notified of the investigation," Howe told The Sun last October, following news of Whitman's guilty pleas.

Whitman's attorney, Oscar Cruz Jr., was not available for comment.

Follow Aaron Curtis on Twitter @aselahcurtis