Royse City ex-Dallas sergeant gets 28 months for stolen guns

A former Dallas police sergeant living in Royse City will spend 28 months in federal prison after admitting he stole Dallas Police Department service weapons and sold them to an Oklahoma pawn shop.

Thomas Fry, 53, was sentenced Wednesday, April 22, by U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, and the U.S. Department of Justice announced the sentence Friday. Court records show Fry admitted to three separate instances of taking a firearm owned by the Dallas Police Department and selling the guns in June and July 2022.

Federal prosecutors said at least three 9mm Sig Sauer pistols were stolen from a Dallas Police Department substation and pawned through an Oklahoma shop. Fry was indicted Jan. 27, 2025, on three federal counts of possession and sale of a stolen firearm. At the time, he also faced three state counts of theft of a firearm and could have received up to 30 years in prison on the federal charges.

The case cuts to the core of what Rockwall County readers expect from public safety: officers are trusted with access to weapons because they are supposed to protect the community, not move those guns into the private market. Investigators with the ATF Dallas Field Division and the Dallas Police Department worked the case, and the Dallas Police Department Public Integrity Unit later traced the stolen firearms to the Southeast Patrol Division, where Fry had previously been assigned. Reporting also showed Fry was working in detention services when the thefts occurred and that he turned himself in on a felony theft warrant in April 2024 before the case moved into federal court.

U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said the case violated the public’s trust, while ATF Dallas Field Division Special Agent in Charge Brian Garner said the sentence sends a message that those who abuse authority will be held accountable. For Royse City, where Fry lived while the case unfolded, and for neighbors across Rockwall County who rely on nearby police agencies every day, the sentence is a reminder that a badge does not shield anyone from federal court when duty weapons are stolen, sold and traced across state lines.