By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
When Dave Adamiak first heard that his son had been arrested by Joe Biden’s ATF, part of him thought he must have done something wrong. Perhaps ATF agents had found a dozen Glock switches or some other illegal device during their search warrant of his son’s home. Dave Adamiak, who will be 71 in October, grew up with the utmost respect for law enforcement, especially federal law enforcement, back when they arrested bad guys and protected the innocent from harm. The federal agents wouldn’t make a mistake, right?
But the ATF found absolutely nothing illegal in Patrick “Tate” Adamiak’s home, so agents concocted a myriad of fake charges for non-functional artifacts and gun parts that were purchased online—all of which remain legal to own.
When Dave Adamiak learned about how ATF agents chose to investigate his son—he had a popular website—how they bamboozled a judge into issuing a search warrant—agents falsely claimed he had a machinegun—and what they found—he had absolutely nothing illegal—his whole opinion changed about the ATF and federal law enforcement—especially if they’re working for Joe Biden.
“Tate was railroaded over complete lies. Everything they brought up in court was lies. Tate spent more than $50,000 on lawyers who didn’t defend him. They let the prosecutors roll with all the nonsense,” Dave Adamiak said. “Everything about this case smells like three-day-old fish. Facts are stubborn things, but the government didn’t want to see them. How does a judge have the power to shut down the truth? The truth should set you free, but the ATF tampered with it—especially the evidence. They lied to the judge and to the jury.”
The Adamiak family expected more from President Trump, who has been in office 555 days. Adamiak’s father was sure his son would be pardoned or somehow released, but Tate has remained in prison for 1,379 days.
After all, he did nothing wrong, yet a federal judge gave him a massive 20-year prison sentence, which even the current ATF Director, Robert Cekada, said was far too much.
Dave Adamiak believed Tate would be pardoned earlier this month, after media reports indicated that President Trump was going to pardon 250 inmates, but of course nothing happened. Tate remains locked inside a dangerous county jail, and no one will say why he wasn’t moved back to a federal prison.
“With all the attention that Tate’s case has received, I thought President Trump would have reacted in a positive way, especially after seeing what they did to Tate and how it’s so similar to what they did to him. But he—President Trump—had attorneys to keep him out of prison,” Dave Adamiak said. “With all the attention Tate’s receiving, I thought this would have gotten onto his radar, and that he would have done the right thing and pardoned Tate.”
Dave Adamiak still has nothing but respect for the president.
“I still hope he will do the right thing about Tate,” he said. “I’ve been fighting for my son for four years. We thought we were at a pretty good place when President Trump was elected, and this would have all been done. We’re getting close to September now. Another month has gone by and Tate’s in a dangerous county jail.”
Remaining positive
Matthew “Tucker” Adamiak, 39, is seven years older than his brother Tate. The two remain incredibly close.
“When Tate joined the Navy, it was always tough,” Tucker said. “I always looked forward to him coming home on leave. We would cram as much into those weeks as possible. That’s what I always looked forward to, or just working together at the house helping dad.”
Tucker got a call shortly after Tate’s arrest.
“We were blindsided by the entire thing from day one,” he said. “I was at work. I immediately drove over to my dad’s house, and we were like in shock for weeks until we found out what happened. Once we learned the details, we were relieved. We believed there’s no way that any of this would ever stick in court. When he had his trial, we were waiting for the call to hear he’d been found not guilty. When we heard he was found guilty, my heart just sunk. When the judge sentenced him to 240 months, when I realized that was 20 years, my jaw just hit the ground.”
Since Tate’s sentencing, Tucker has tried to stay positive even though it’s been extremely difficult.
“I think it’s important for people to know that we have court sentences there for a reason, but sometimes they get it wrong, and I 100-percent believe that’s what happened in Tate’s case. There are innocent people in prison and Tate is one of them,” Tucker said. “Throughout my life I’ve heard stories of people being incarcerated for crimes he didn’t commit and are later found not guilty. It never related to me until this whole ordeal began with Tate.”
His brother’s incarceration has impacted Tucker.
“It’s affected me in so many ways. When someone in your family is sick with cancer, your entire family is affected. Even though I’m not personally going through that, I would compare it to having someone incarcerated. Even though I’m not incarcerated with Tate, I’m in my own little prison. Everyone who’s going through this with him is in their own prison, too,” he said. “It makes me feel guilty just going through life, waking up next to someone you love, going to work, eating healthy meals—every time I think about my brother, I think how he’s missing that. I have remained positive, which is difficult. I’ve never lost hope that one day all of this will be corrected, and that one day I’ll be able to see my brother again, outside of prison.”
Tucker and Dave Adamiak were extremely grateful for the support they have received from the Second Amendment community.
“Tate has the most incredible crew of friends, starting with our dad, friends from childhood, the military, gun owners,” Tucker said. “He really didn’t even have to be there right now. He was offered plea deals, but he never took them. He stood up to the government. When he asked me what I thought he should do, deep down I hoped he would go against the government, but I was scared, especially with their unlimited resources. He didn’t want to give up his rights. To this day he remains innocent, in everyone’s eyes but the government’s.”
Tucker and his dad created “bug-out bags,” which they’ll grab and then jump in the car when Tate’s released from prison.
“They’re getting a bit dusty,” Dave Adamiak said.
Takeaways
The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project sent an email to President Trump’s media team. It consisted of only one question: “Why hasn’t President Trump pardoned Patrick ‘Tate’ Adamiak?”
So far, the White House has not responded.
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