Former Tyngsborough Police Officer Sentenced for Bank Fraud and National Firearms Act Violations

BOSTON – A former Tyngsborough police officer was sentenced today in federal court in Boston. 

Daniel Whitman, 39, of Salisbury, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to one year and one day in prison and two years of supervised release. Whitman was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine. In October 2022, Whitman pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud conspiracy; two counts of bank fraud; two counts of making false statements to a bank; one count of possession of an unregistered firearm; one count of conspiracy to violate provisions of the National Firearms Act (NFA); one count of making a firearm in violation of the NFA; and one count of transferring a firearm in violation of the NFA.

Whitman was a police officer with the Tyngsborough Police Department and the owner of Hitman Firearms, LLC, a retail gun shop in Tyngsborough. Whitman created Freedom Alley Shooting Sports LLC, which he envisioned as a large indoor shooting range that would serve regional and international customers and offer shooting clinics and other services. Whitman and his co-conspirator, Bin Lu, brought in a Chinese investor who contributed several million dollars to Freedom Alley in exchange for a majority interest in the company. However, in applying for loans from federally insured banks to fund the construction of Freedom Alley, Whitman hid the true source of their initial funding from the banks and filed false documents in connection with their loan applications.

In addition, Whitman knowingly made, possessed and transferred firearms that had been modified by the addition of stocks and short barrels, resulting in their classification as short-barreled rifles (SBR) under the NFA. These SBRs were not properly registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record as required by the NFA, nor did Whitman pay the applicable taxes or fulfill other requirements under the NFA.

In June 2021, Lu pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of possession of an unregistered firearm. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 6, 2023.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Michael J. Krol, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; Jonathan Davidson, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, Boston Field Office; Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Boston; James M. Ferguson, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Boston Field Division; and Joleen D. Simpson, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston made the announcement today. The Tyngsborough and Westford Police Departments provided special assistance in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan D. Panich of Rollins’ Criminal Division, Christine J. Wichers of Rollins’ Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit and Eugenia M. Carris, Deputy Chief of Rollins’ Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit, prosecuted the case.