BAY CITY, Mich. (WXYZ) — The former police chief of the Village of Oakley pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges of wire fraud and filing false income tax return for 2012, according to United States Attorney Matthew Schneider.
Robert Reznick, of Swartz Creek, pleaded guilty in front of a United States Magistrate in Bay City.
Reznick was accused of fraudulently used his position as a police officer to get lower prices on firearms, ammunition and other equipment from suppliers located in and outside of Michigan.
He then sold the discounted items to his "reserve officers" for personal profit.
Though the population of the Village of Oakley, located in Saginaw County, was under 300 people, Reznick recruited and maintained a roster of approximately 120 reserve officers for the Oakley Police Department, most of whom were affluent professionals or otherwise prominent individuals who lived outside of, and distant from, the Village of Oakley. Reznick also used his position as police chief to facilitate the sale of assault shotguns, with the capacity to hold 16 rounds, from an out-of-state vendor for some of his customers and thereby enabled the purchasers of those shotguns to evade the federal and state taxes on the transactions.
Reznick also pleaded guilty to willfully filing a false 2012 federal income tax return, and acknowledged under-reporting his income on
tax returns. The criminal tax loss that resulted from Reznick failing to truthfully report all of his personal income totals approximately $87,702, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
“Former Police Chief Reznick’s guilty plea demonstrates that no one is above the law in Michigan — and that includes those who enforce the law,” United States Attorney Matthew Schneider said. “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that those entrusted with enforcing the law follow it themselves, and when they do not, we will hold them fully accountable.”
“Instead of protecting and serving his community, Robert Reznick made the decision to break the law for personal gain, and in doing so violated the public’s trust. ATF will never waver in our commitment to protecting the community and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold all citizens accountable.” said ATF Special Agent in Charge James Deir.
