In a civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court, former Stoughton resident Mykel Powell and his attorneys argued Stoughton police were legally obligated to wait a full year before turning Powell’s guns over to the Mass. State Police for destruction or public auction.

STOUGHTON — A man has sued three police officials for allegedly selling his guns in violation of state law after officers confiscated the weapons following his arrest in a 2015 assault and battery case.

In a civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court, former Stoughton resident Mykel Powell and his attorneys argued Stoughton police were legally obligated to wait a full year before turning Powell’s guns over to state police for destruction or public auction.

Instead, as Powell and his attorneys outline in the lawsuit, a Stoughton detective sold a collection of 21 confiscated guns, including Powell’s handgun and rifle, to a private gun shop in Northborough in exchange for $2,850 in store credit, which was used to buy equipment for the Police Department. Powell’s guns had spent only 11 months in police custody before the exchange, allegedly violating another law that gave Powell a full year to recover his property.

Stoughton police spokesman Lt. John Bonney said he could not offer a detailed response to the allegations. Three of the defendants — Chief Donna McNamara, Deputy Chief Brian Holmes and Sgt. James O’Connor — are expected to file a response to the complaint in court this summer.

“During every litigation, accusations are made and often times an accusing party will take advantage of the commonly known practice of silence on the municipality’s part,” Bonney told The Enterprise. “This is typically done in order to gain support in an alleged infraction by a municipality.”

Powell’s attorneys, hired by his co-plaintiff, the gun rights organization Commonwealth Second Amendment, say the case could expose similar and potentially illegal practices in police departments across Massachusetts. One count in the complaint alleges the private Northborough business that acquired Powell’s guns, the Village Vault, engaged in similar activity with other departments, constituting a violation of the federal RICO Act.

The business has since been sold, renamed and moved to Westborough. Its original owner, Peter Dowd, is identified in the complaint as a defendant.

State police, meanwhile, say that Stoughton is far from unique in its failure to transfer confiscated guns to the agency for disposal or public auction.

“We have no recent history or records of local departments turning guns over to us for auction, nor have we sold any guns through auction in recent years,” spokesman Dave Procopio said in a statement. Procopio did not respond on Friday when asked why state police are no longer acquiring confiscated guns from local police departments.

Mark Leahy, executive director of the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association, said the last state police gun auction he can remember took place in 1998. In the years since, he said many police departments have turned to "bonded warehouses" like the Village Vault to offload their confiscated guns, which can deteriorate quickly if left unattended in the evidence room of a police station.

These warehouses can sell the confiscated weapons if their owners fall more than 90 days behind in paying their storage fees, or if no lawful owner can be identified in the first place.

Powell says the Village Vault's eventual sale of his handgun did not satisfy either condition, though Stoughton police were able to reacquire Powell's rifle before it sold.

In the lawsuit, Powell alleges that members of the Stoughton Police Department conspired with the Village Vault to evade the statute requiring state police to auction guns confiscated by local police departments and remit the proceeds to the state treasurer.

Jim Wallace, executive director of the advocacy group Gun Owners’ Action League of Massachusetts, offered a different explanation, saying the lack of compliance with the statute likely stems from honest confusion.

“Any gun that’s supposed to be up for destruction or for auction has to go to the state police,” said Wallace. “Police departments are not supposed to be trading things for store credit.”

However, knowing that would require knowledge of a long list of laws Wallace has called “draconian” in his writings online.

“There’s only a handful of us in the state that have a pretty good grasp on them,” he said.

Still, Wallace does not mean to cut police departments any slack. “If we have to obey the laws, then everybody has to obey the laws,” said the Second Amendment activist. “If you don’t like the laws, then get them changed.”

Through the discovery process, Powell’s lawsuit could uncover a wider system of improper disposal of confiscated firearms in the state, though the attorney general’s office has already examined the complaint and decided not to conduct a further investigation.

Powell’s property claims in the suit are small. Altogether, the guns, ammunition and carrying bag identified in the lawsuit total less than $1,500 if valued at sticker prices.

The criminal charges that Stoughton police seized Powell's guns in response to were resolved in 2016 by means of a continuance without a finding and a period of probation.

Staff writer Ben Berke can be reached at bberke@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter @Enterprise_Ben.