Gunsmoke owner arrested for alleged theft

Legal woes for the owner of a high-profile gun shop in Wheat Ridge continued last week.

On April 10 Rich Wyatt, owner of Gunsmoke Guns, 9690 W. 44th Ave., turned himself in to police following the issuance of an arrest warrant for theft from an at-risk adult.

Wheat Ridge Police say the victim had consigned a gun collection with Wyatt in 2013, and that repeated efforts at recovering several of the weapons had failed.

As part of an unrelated federal investigation, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided the gun shop two weeks ago. ATF agents seized several pieces of evidence. Among that evidence was several of the missing gun collection pieces.

WRPD is requesting that anyone with further information regarding consignment issues at Gunsmoke Guns call the tip line at 303-235-2947.

The ATF declined to give details about what other items might have been seized in the raid, or the nature of the ongoing federal investigation. However, the search warrant affidavit from a prior ATF raid on Gunsmoke in March of 2013 indicated the IRS had reason to believe that the Wyatt family had engaged in tax fraud during tax years 2006 to 2011. Allegations include grossly understating personal income for the Wyatts, and payroll for Gunsmoke employees.

Gunsmoke and the Wyatt family which owns the business, were the subjects of a Discovery Channel reality TV show American Guns in 2013, that was cancelled after two seasons.

The ATF was not able to confirm if the more recent raid was related to the same investigation as the one in 2013.