From Staff Reports

Former Linden City Councilman Otis Preston Bowden, 52, was arrested Wednesday by agents from the Selma and Monroeville resident agencies of the Mobile division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to FBI Special Agent In Charge Timothy Munson.

Bowden, currently a resident of Jackson, Alabama, was also formerly the police chief in Linden.

He was arrested Wednesday at 7 a.m. without incident at his

Jackson residence and transported to Mobile.

Following a 10-month federal investigation, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Alabama returned a 10-count federal indictment against Bowden August 30. In the indictment the federal grand jury charged Bowden with multiple counts of possessing stolen firearms in violation of Tile 18 of United States Code, Section 522 (J).

The 10-count indictment alleges that between October 1999 and November 2001, Bowden "unlawfully received, possessed, bartered, sold or disposed of a variety of firearms which had moved in interstate commerce, which he knew or had reasonable cause to believe had been stolen," said a statement from David P. York, U.S.

Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.

The indictment also alleges that the firearms had been stolen from the Linden Police Department. Bowden was Linden police chief from approximately 1990 until April 1999.

Following the indictment, a federal warrant was issued Wednesday for Bowden’s arrest by the United States District Court.

The indictment of Bowden was the result of a joint investigation by the Selma resident agency of the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Linden Police Department.

Bowden was scheduled for an initial appearance Wednesday before United States Magistrate Judge William H. Steele.

If convicted, Bowden faces a possible maximum federal prison sentence of 10 years, a $250,000 fine, three years of supervised release, restitution, and a $100 mandatory special assessment, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex F. Lankford IV.

Bowden was arrested November 19, 2001 after local police and FBI agents raided his home and confiscated more than 20 rifles, guns and several boxes of ammunition.

Bowden had already been indicted February 26 by a Marengo County Grand Jury for theft of property II.

The indictment states that Bowden "did knowingly obtain or exert unauthorized control over the following property …bows and arrows, and assorted knives," the property of the Linden Police Department with a value of $900.

Bowden was previously out on bond and had recently given up his seat on the Linden City Council. His county case has been continued.

The federal case has been ongoing with FBI Special Agent Robert Gaskamp working with the Linden Police Department.