Federal prosecutors in Sacramento have spent years targeting suspects selling rifles and automatic weapons illegally, and on Sept. 19 they filed a criminal complaint against four men charging them with conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and to transfer a machine gun.
The case stemmed from an undercover operation in which the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spent more than $138,000 to buy 45 firearms and devices used to build “ghost guns,” untraceable assault-style rifles, according to an affidavit from ATF Special Agent Matthew C. Ryckman.
Then, three weeks later, prosecutors asked U.S. Magistrate Kendall J. Newman to dismiss the charges and close the case “in the interests of justice.”
No further explanation was given, and the case, which has become known to Sacramento-area lawyers as “the Caldwell case” because of the names of two defendants, was ordered closed
Now, federal sources confirm the case was dropped because of allegations against Ryckman in a corruption probe into activities of officers in the Baltimore Police Department, where Ryckman, 32, spent eight years as a patrol officer, SWAT team member and detective.