COBURG, Ore. (AP) -- A state agency is looking into whether Coburg Police Chief John Bosley lied to investigators who were searching for a M-14 semiautomatic rifle that Coburg police obtained several years ago.

If he is found to have lied, Bosley could lose his police certification and his job.

The chief talked to KVAL TV about the investigation last week. | MORE

Bosley acknowledges forwarding paperwork last year to the state Department of Administrative Services, stating the gun was at the Coburg Police Department when it was actually in the possession of a citizen who purchased it from the city.

Though he didn't actually have the rifle, Bosley said he assumed the citizen — a reserve officer — would quickly agree to return it.

He was wrong.

"He bought the weapon in good faith from the city and wanted to keep it," Bosley said.

Bosley finally retrieved the rifle after Administrative Services officials applied further pressure. At that point, Bosley said, he hand-delivered it to the agency's Salem office.

"But the form was in Salem saying the rifle was here before (the reserve officer) brought it back," Bosley said.

The agency investigating Bosley is the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, which oversees certification programs for public safety officials. Spokeswoman Jeanine Hohn declined to provide many details, only that the agency received information that statements and documents provided by Bosley may have been false.

How the weapon came into the custody of Coburg police and why government officials wanted it back remain unclear. Hohn said officials believe Coburg police obtained the firearm at a government auction.

Bosley said he and a licensed firearms dealer could find no documentation about how police acquired the rifle when then-interim City Administrator Jamon Kent asked him in 2004 to gather city assets that could be sold to raise money for Coburg city government.

Bosley, who at the time had just been appointed interim police chief, said federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms officials cleared the department to sell the weapon.

Bosley said two years passed before state officials asked him to get the gun back.

Bosley said he has conferred with an attorney and will contest the allegations during a hearing before an administrative law judge if the board seeks to revoke his certification.

"You bet I'm worried about it," Bosley said. "I've lost a lot of sleep over this deal."