Eric Mark Way, 37 years old, from Independence Township/Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

His home in that locality was sold in 2019, so my initial search did not pick up his name a few years ago.

 ATF lied in official documents to get M228 training/practice grenade fuzes off the market, including lying to other agencies.  

Eric Mark Way helped them, after having his home raided on 9 September 2014.  His home was raided because he was converting flare gun pistols into NFA regulated SBS and selling them.  Way didn't want to go to prison for a decade, so he agreed to act as a confidential informant for ATF.  In exchange he was sentenced to just one year in prison, in exchange for being a traitor to his countrymen.  

I'll post the entirety of the details later today after I finish handling a few things.

And you other traitors out there, some of whom I know are on this website, though I don't know all your screen names...you'll be outed too. More to come.

And before someone freaks out and accuses me of crucifying the wrong person...I have documents.  And I will post them.


-----The Story----

On 10/30/2013 Whisper Tech Co, located in Hayden, Alabama received an exemption from federal explosives regulations for the M-228 training/practice fuze which they marketed as the PDS-228.  It contains approximately .25 ounces of black powder. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration has authority to designate items, which would otherwise be classified as regulated explosives, as "Articles Pyrotechnic" and assign one of a handful of UN shipping numbers to the item.  For the case at hand, the number UN0432 was assigned, which removes the item from ATF's authority and purview. Whisper Tech owner Matthew Joseph Smith proceeded to sell a significant number of these fuzes to buyers and distributors around the country.  Some of the places you could purchase them were somewhat niche, others, such as Ohio Ordnance Works, are very well known.  

Approximately a year later, after thousands of these fuzes, completely legal and exempted from federal explosives regulations, were sold to buyers around the country, on September 9th, 2014 the ATF raided the home of Eric Mark Way in Independence Township, Pennsylvania.  Eric Way then became a confidential informant for the ATF.  Some of his actions are detailed in this affidavit for a warrant. Paragraph 10, page 5 of the affidavit states that ATF Special Agent Robert Manns informed ATF officials in Ohio of a raid "on or about the week of September 7th, 2014". It doesn't list Eric Way by name, rather lists him as a registered confidential informant. Interestingly and importantly, the affidavit was filed 10/24/2014- and in the affidavit the agent applying for the warrant, ATF Special Agent Charles Turner, lies to the judge going to great lengths to explain how the fuzes in question are illegal and a public safety risk, while completely omitting that the fuzes at that time had a valid exemption from federal explosives regulations. Let that sink in.  Special Agent Charles Turner lied to the judge in writing to get the warrant. So lets move on...With assistance from Eric Way, ATF obtained a search warrant for the Ohio home of James Copley for a device which was completely legal.

Around this same time ATF agents came to my home outside Camp Lejeune, NC, and demanded that I surrender the fuzes which I had bought from Ohio Ordnance Works.  ATF insisted that the fuzes were illegal, and despite not having a warrant informed me that they "are not leaving without them". Concerned for my security clearance at the time, and also concerned by ATFs reputation to go rogue, I surrendered all the fuzes I had bought which had not yet been expended, including one fuze that is associated with an NFA registered fragmentation grenade. Numerous other people, including many members here, were confronted by ATF and strong armed into turning over the fuzes on the false pretense that they were illegal within the weeks following.

In June 2015 the owner of WhisperTech, Matthew Joseph Smith, pled guilty in the Northern District of Alabama to illegally selling 1340 fuzes to James Copley of Ohio.  The following month Copley was indicted by a grand jury for illegally receiving the fuzes on the premise that they were unlawfully obtained regulated explosives.  Still no mention anywhere of the fact that said fuzes were still, at this point, exempt from federal explosives regulations.

Yet something strange happened then. On 1 May 2015 Eric Way was sentenced to just 1 year and 1 day for selling multiple unregistered NFA items, and the press release mentioned the grenade fuzes only in passing. In September of 2015 all charges were dropped against both Copley and Smith. ""An issue developed with a witness which required us to dismiss the case," Peggy Sanford, public information officer for the U.S. Attorney's Office explained..." The case was sealed, and the confidential informant's identity was, as far as ATF knew, protected.

Shortly after this, the ATF's chief counsel in Washington, DC, with whom I had filed a complaint over the unlawful confiscation of my fuze, directed the ATF office which had confiscated my fuze from my NFA registered grenade to return said fuze to me.  Heaven forbid they transport it up to Northern Virginia where I was stationed though, instead, I got to drive all the way down to the southernmost reaches of North Carolina, 8 hours one way, to retrieve my property. Interestingly, they did NOT at that time consider it explosive material.  It was simply handed to me and I was told to have a nice day.

Fast forward to 2018. In December of 2018, the Piplelines and Hazardous Materials Administration sent Smith, the owner of Whisper Tech, a show cause letter stating that it had learned Smith had been convicted of unlawfully selling explosive materials, and proposing the revocation of the exemption granted for the fuzes he had sold (such as the one I possessed). As of that time, the exemption was still valid. 5 years after all this had begun.

In the spring of 2020, an ATF Special Agent named Steven Letteney and his associates came to my residence and again, without a warrant, demanded that I hand over the fuze for my NFA registered destructive device. He served me a cease and desist letter from ATF in regards to my possessing said fuze, and insisted that it was contraband, and that the exemption for said fuzes had been long revoked. My wife was standing there holding our newborn son as it was made clear again that they didn't have a warrant, but were not leaving without it. I surrendered the fuze under protest, again. I shortly thereafter spoke to an individual at ATF who I knew previous to their employment there, and was told that the fuze exemption was still valid. Furthermore, I was later informed that ATF had sent a secret letter to my employer stating that I was a potential "insider threat" because of my possession of said fuze and other NFA items, all of which are properly registered. Fortunately, this letter from ATF, which I managed to obtain a copy of despite the fact that ATF didn't want me to know about it, did not have its intended effect.

Not until March 26th, 2021 was the exemption for this type of fuze finally rescinded
by the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Administration.

I had suspected the informant was Eric Way for some time now, and had significant evidence collected more than a year ago, along with verbal confirmation from people in multiple places within DOJ, ATF, and local law enforcement.  It wasn't until I was 100% certain however, and confirmed that the house I believed it was in fact previously belonged to Eric Way, that I wanted to go public with it.  By the way, Pennsylvania is a way bigger pain in the ass than a lot of places for me to sift through their law enforcement and tax records for corroborating evidence.

Now the best part, is that Whisper Tech Co owner Matthew Joseph Smith, at least as of last time I checked in 2022, still has an FFL. The records re: his and Copley's cases seemingly vanished from the public completely.  James Copley, when I reached out a few years ago, was afraid to speak to me altogether.

But this is only the end of this little piece of the story- the piece where Eric Way sold out people to help ATF make arrests for an item that was explicitly legal when they did so, and where the ATF lied to judges to get the warrants. And where I tell you that there is much more to come, as I have a lot of documents and leads from here for a much larger conspiracy on the part of ATF to actively pursue individuals for activity that isn't a gray area, but clearly and explicitly legal. And the informants and collaborators involved in such operations, including ongoing ones, are going to be outed.

More soon (in relative terms)...I have work to do.

OST.

Sold out dozens of other people to ATF.

Sans the above, I'd have the same response you posted.  But the above is unforgivable.

That I don't know yet.  I could certainly find out...but now that I have enough solid documentation on him, I'm moving on to the next guy.

Traitors deserve to be outed IMO.

He provided the secret testimony to ATF to get them on track to the man (James Copley, Ohio) who was one of the main distributors of the fuzes.  Copley got fucked because of this guy, and in the process everyone else got fucked.

Like I said, I'll post the whole story tonight.  It is long, but worth reading, I assure you.

@W_E_G knowing who you are in real life, and your background, makes me way happier to see this response than it should have.

Thank you sir!

This rabbit hole goes much deeper than I will post today.

Tonight I'll post this whole piece of the story and puzzle, but I might be on track to figuratively burning ATFs house down around them.

What a rat bastard.