Federal agents are combing a farm east of Cornell. Chippewa County is also on the scene. Yellow tape wraps several buildings on the property and there are dozens of law enforcement vehicles on the property.

Friday, federal agents swarmed a farm house in Chippewa County, looking for stolen military property. This all happened at the corner of 255th Ave. and 350th St. That's about five miles east of Cornell. The search began on Wednesday.

According to the federal criminal complaint out of New York, federal prosecutors say David Raymond Carmel sold stolen U.S. military property, including laser targeting systems. We just learned federal prosecutors in Madison also charged him with two counts of possession of a machine gun.

About 35 federal and local law enforcement officers from four agencies, the A.T.F., Immigrations and Customs Enforcement or I.C.E., the Department of Defense and the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department were busy collecting property and weapons and putting them into a large white trailer. The most noticeable piece of property is a large army tank that sits in the yard.

Captain Eugene Gutsch of the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department says "the tank is not part of our concern, nor part of anything taking place up to this point."

But a family friend says the tank was part of an elaborate setup that Carmel had to showcase his weapons.

Charlie Schilling says "he (Carmel) has a display set up in the barn there you know with the netting and fake army men you know and it's just a little hobby. It looked like a little army field you know."

Carmel was in the U.S. Navy and Schilling says he wasn’t surprised about the raid but he knew he had no plans for using the weapons.

"Just like I say, he didn't have no plot against anybody or anything. He just had a hobby for collecting guns," says Schilling.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Madison says Carmel is scheduled to be in court on Monday June 4th to face the charges of having machine guns. We're told he'll likely be in court in Madison on Monday on those charges.

So who is David Carmel, and how did this investigation start? According to the criminal complaint, the investigation started on eBay about a year ago when federal agents found a destroyed rifle scope for sale.

Undercover agents called Carmel and arranged to buy the scope for $750 and to buy a working infrared laser for $1,500. Carmel told the agent those were never sold to civilians and that the federal government does not want civilians to have them.

Federal prosecutors say Carmel had access to every armed services weapon inventory in the world while he was a naval lieutenant. Carmel was a supply officer to a minesweeper stationed in Texas.

The complaint says he bought hundreds of lasers, machine gun barrels, night vision goggles and machine gun parts. It also says he was relieved of his duties for misusing his authority and for misappropriating government property.

Federal prosecutors say, over the last year, Carmel sold undercover federal agents four military laser sighting devices. By tracking the laser devices, agents found they were last seen at an army infantry base in Hawaii.

We talked to the company, and the sights are only sold to law enforcement and the military, because the lasers can only be seen by people wearing night vision goggles. The complaint says when the lasers are no longer in military use, they are supposed to be crushed, broken or melted beyond repair.

If you'd like to read the full criminal complaint, Click Here.