Dustin, the younger one, hadn’t even been on the radar of the U.S. Marshals’ task force; it was his brother, Gerald, 27, whom they were hunting. For the latter had just skipped his court date for a cocaine trafficking charge. Dustin, 25, had no prior felony convictions, and was sitting idle in a house in a tranquil neighborhood right off Charleston Boulevard and the 215 Beltway when the Marshals, without any preamble, rammed through the front door of the house on the night of Wednesday, March 21.
They, the task force, had commenced the hunt for Gerald Brookins in that same southwest neighborhood two nights before, search warrant in hand, and all but captured him in another house. But Gerald fled into the night, and remained at large while the task force gathered intelligence that would lead them to the house Dustin was sitting in two nights later.
When law enforcement stormed the premises, with guns drawn, and with a whole new search warrant, they found a sophisticated marijuana cultivation—between 75 and 100 plants, in various stages of growth, reports state—along with methamphetamines and illicit mushrooms. Moreover, officers discovered a semi-automatic handgun, an automatic shotgun and three SKS assault rifles.
And so they arrested Dustin, without incident, and held him responsible for the guns and drugs, as he had been by himself at the house. His brother was nowhere to be found. Until later that night, when Gerald went to the Clark County Detention Center of his own volition and turned himself in.
“The street value of the marijuana—about $80,000—did not make this an extraordinary case,” says Deputy U.S. Marshal Steven Carpenter. “The fact that they were cultivating the drug did. We do not see many growth houses in Las Vegas.”
But more than ever before, according to statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Justice. For instance, just last November a U.S. Marshals’ task force raided a growth house in Vegas with twice the amount of marijuana, one deputy said.
The U.S. Marshals Service had been handed the case by Metro, and as soon as they completed their job—that is, to apprehend the suspect—they turned the case over to Metro’s narcotics department, because of the impounded drugs. And then the case was passed along to the Nevada Attorney General’s Office for prosecution, because it was a conflict case.
Prosecutor Heidi Almase was put in charge of the case, which to this day is still unfolding. Gerald, who had been charged with seven counts, including battery, burglary with the intent to commit a felony and his initial one, trafficking cocaine, was not permitted bail. But his brother, Dustin, was. His bail was set at $14,000—a very attainable sum for somebody who had been sitting on $80,000 worth of weed.
“I guess marijuana is looked upon as a less dangerous drug,” says Deputy Carpenter.
But what about the weapons?
“They were not in possession of three assault rifles for target practice,” said U.S. Marshal Gary Orton after the arrest, and just before Dustin was released. He also at that time stated:
“The removal of these two brothers from the street will impact drug use in our community and may have prevented violence.”
And so residents in the quiet neighborhood of the drug bust expressed astonishment when they learned of Dustin’s release. They, of course, wanted to know why.
As did U.S. Marshal Chief Deputy Fidencio Rivera, who after Dustin’s release went on record as saying: “As law enforcement, there is frustration.”
For once the U.S. Marshals’ task force turns over an apprehended suspect to the courts, they have no control over what happens. It is left to the prosecuting bodies—in this case, the AG’s office—to recommend bail, and then to the discretion of the judge presiding over the suspect’s arraignment to establish that bail, if any.
Neither the AG’s office nor the district courthouse returned a request to comment on this story in time for press. Which, of course, leaves unanswered the prevailing question in regard to the Brookins brothers:
Why was Dustin, caught in a growth house with assault weapons, let back out onto the streets with as little resistance as $14,000?