Patrick “Tate” Adamiak has been behind bars in a New Jersey federal prison for almost three years, but he still has 17 years left of his 20-year sentence even though he says he did absolutely nothing illegal or even wrong.
Adamiak recently sent a personal letter to President Donald J. Trump seeking a presidential pardon, which is one of the very few ways he has left to obtain his freedom. He has written letters to other politicians, but his letter to President Trump is special. It is far more private than anything he’s written before. The former sailor got very personal, especially about his mother’s death.
If he receives a pardon, Adamiak was very clear about what he will do next.
“I will go to the recruiter’s office and get back into the military,” he said Tuesday morning from his federal prison in New Jersey. “I still want to serve.”
He’s adamant he did nothing wrong. Prosecutors and the ATF misused the evidence during his trial, he said.
“Not one of the items meets the definition of a firearm under the statutes,” he said.
He was very clear about why he sent the letter to President Trump.
“I sent it because if he was made aware of what actually happened, he would do the right thing,” Adamiak said. “This would never have happened under his leadership. I hope he’s willing to fix another Biden-era disaster.”
A Presidential pardon may be the only route left to obtain his freedom.
“We’re still on appeal, but that’s been getting kicked down the road for three years now,” he said. “There’s been no decision on it. We’ll still continue to appeal. We can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, but there’s only a .02-percent chance they’ll take the case.”
Here is Adamiak’s letter to the President:
June 1st, 2025
To: President Donald J. Trump
From: Patrick Tate Adamiak
President Trump,
I hope this letter finds you well. My name is Patrick “Tate” Adamiak. I am a 31 year old young man—a Patriot that has devoted my entire life to serving this great country. In my decade of honorable service in the United States Navy, under three separate Commanders in Chief, I can say with absolute personal conviction that I was most proud while serving under your strong unparalleled leadership. Having a President with courage means something.
I achieved many great things during my tenure in the military, operating in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Panama Canal in Central America. While on active duty, I was simultaneously and diligently working toward my bachelor’s degree, which I completed with a 4.0 GPA, earning a spot on the President’s list. This degree was required to attend Officer Candidate School, as I was on track to achieving a life goal of mine, becoming a Commissioned Naval Officer.
Aside from my Naval career, I was also a very small-scale entrepreneur, owning some rental properties, and building a successful retail store online. I actually attribute much of my business “drive” to you, as I remember watching you on “The Apprentice” as a little boy, always appreciating the “Art of the Deal.”
In fact, you might be surprised to learn that my mother actually worked for you in the early 80s. She was a renowned ballet dancer in New York City, and you hired her to teach a football team you owned, The New Jersey Generals, coordination and balance techniques. My morn always used to tell me a funny story about the day she met you met. Her name was “Senga” Adamiak, and she told me that you asked her where a name like that came from. She then told you the story about how her name was supposed to be “Agnes,” but it was mistakenly spelled backwards on her birth certificate by her dyslexic Uncle, who was at the hospital filling out the paperwork because her father was deployed. Apparently, you got quite the kick out of that, and every time you came up, she’d remind me of this story.
Today, I am writing you because I am in desperate need of your helps as you are the only person that can save me. While it may seem that I had the perfect life trajectory. it was ALL taken from me due to the incompetency of the Biden era administration. Just like you, I fell victim to politically motivated Lawfare. I was targeted by overzealous prosecutors, and a then a corrupt DOJ. I did absolutely nothing wrong, yet had to lose my Naval career, cease pursuing my Master’s degree, deplete my life’s savings to go to federal trial, be pulled from my loved ones, and now have been held hostage in a Jersey federal prison for almost three years. the worst part is, the amount of turmoil and chaos this situation created pushed my frail mother, Senga, to her death, just weeks after my arrest, She couldn’t handle the stress and died of a broken heart.
Biden put pressure on the ATF in early 2022, to “do something” about firearms in the United States. The objective was to target so called “ghost guns,” however certain rogue ATF agents went even further than that, completely violating the rights of law abiding gun owners and Americans.
As a passionate military history enthusiast, I was a collector of inert and non-functional weaponry and memorabilia. Props and replicas. Absolutely none of the items at issue in my case could even shoot a single round, nor were they for sale, yet I was smeared and made out to be some dangerous weapons trafficker and treated like a domestic terrorist. Everything I owned is still legally available in the open market to this day.
A deranged ATF employee literally took toy replica weapons and “classified” them as machine guns. He testified at trial to his findings before a liberal anti-gun judge who accepted his testimony and proceeded to give me a TWENTY year prison sentence. Two decades for inert dummy guns that were not used in any crimes. I was even attacked for being a conservative in this court room, the prosecution making sure the jury knew I was team MAGA.
This was nothing short of a weaponized agency overreach. It was a political stunt to make it look like Biden’s administration was accomplishing “something,” and to help the ATF justify their existence and wasteful budgets. I was used as an example.
None of this would have happened if you were President. I would have never even been arrested. My case may seem bizarre and unbelievable, but nobody knows better than you what it feels like to be unfairly targeted. I was de-banked ripped from my career, my family—my whole life destroyed over nothing. There were no victims, nothing was stolen, no evil intent or nefarious agendas, no crime whatsoever, yet here I sit. perishing in prison.
My case has gained significant media attention since you came back into office. There are tens of thousands of Americans rallying behind me—many of whom likely voted for you all THREE times you won the election, that are urging you to consider a Pardon for me. Even Senator Rick Scott of Florida has publicly commented that 1 should never have served a single day in jail. Additionally, Daniel C. O’Kelly, a senior ATF official has come forward as a whistle blower, publicly exposing the fact that nothing I possessed qualifies as a firearm under federal law, further supporting my claim that no crime has been committed. Mr. O’Kelly believes I felt victim to the pressure on the ATF from the Biden administration, poorly trained ATF agents that misclassified the items in my case, and ignorant prosecutors that know nothing about firearms and just took the ATF at their word.
Mr. President, I need you. 1 need you to intervene and help resolve this miscarriage of justice and help me get my life back. I want nothing more than to return to service, pursue my goals in becoming a Naval Officer and to serve under the greatest President that this country has ever seen.
I am more than willing to provide your staff and legal team any evidence, documentation, or expert testimony that will help you understand the full scope of my case. I can easily prove that virtually every claim against me is FAKE NEWS and completely not in line with federal laws. I also invite you to visit my website, www.FreedomForTate.org, to see the ongoing advocacy effort and coverage on my case.
Mr. President, please give me a second chance at life. Let me get back to being the functional member of society I was, instead of being in the draconian and broken Federal Bureau of Prisons system, where I am losing the best years of my life. You are the only person on earth that can save me from this unjust 20 year sentence I am serving, and also hold accountable the lunatics within the ATF and DOJ that maliciously put me here. I hope that you will consider intervening. I will not make you regret your decision.
Thank you for your time, consideration, and service in keeping the United States the best country in the world.
Very respectfully,
Patrick Tate Adamiak
95252-509
FCI Fort Dix
P0 Box 2000
Joint Base MDL, NJ 08640
(Monitored by family)
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.FreedomForTate.org
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ATF Lied to Convict Sailor Now Serving 20 Years in Prison for Selling Legal Gun Parts
About Lee Williams
Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer,” is the chief editor of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.
