Chumlee of Pawn Stars arrested drugs, weapons, sexual assault

"Russell, 33, was taken into custody when officers serving a search warrant in a sexual assault investigation found methamphetamine, marijuana and at least one gun at his southwest Las Vegas home, police said in a statement.

Russell wasn't booked on sex-crime charges, but Officer Larry Hadfield, a department spokesman, said that part of the investigation stemmed from a recent complaint by a woman, and it is continuing.

The reality star was held and charged with 19 counts of drug-possession and one weapon charge, according to Clark County Detention Center records. His bail was set at $62,000."

Ref: FOXNews - Entertainment

For the moment, the authorities are primarily interested in the guns and drugs.

item i.
DonDiego is not an authority on legal matters; he hopes if/when he finds himself in legal trouble he can plead absolute ignorance of the Law.
Nonetheless, in the comments which one often finds following a story on the internets, one can find speculation that finding a gun in the presence of "weed" can lead to a weapons charge. [DonDiego assumes "weed" mean marijuana, . . . but he is less knowledgeable about these matters than he is about the Law.]

item ii.
billryan having peaked his curiosity, poor old DonDiego looked into the open carry matter, . . . and discovered the following:

"Can you open carry on the Strip or Downtown Las Vegas/Reno?
Yes. Nevada Carry's editor has done it and has photos to prove it. Casinos and business will likely ask you to leave and you may be excluded from closed, private events (such as First Friday on Fremont St.), but open carry is legal and police/security cannot stop it on public roads/sidewalks. Southern Nevada—Las Vegas Open Carry members have carried openly en masse several times in both Downtown and on the Strip."
Ref: nevadacarry.org

DonDiego encourages an LVA participant on his next visit to 'The City of Schools and Churches" to pack heat openly on the Strip, . . . and then tell the Vegas-Free-for-All Forum about it. [DonDiego strongly recommends the visitor dump his weed before strapping on his weapon; see item i., above.]

*****EDITED TO ADD*****
“During the course of a sexual assault investigation and search warrant search regarding Austin Lee Russell, detectives found illegal substances like methamphetamines, marijuana and several guns which he’s prohibited from owning, which resulted in his arrest.” __Officer Larry Hadfield of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
[boldface added - DD]
Ref: hollywoodlife.com

Oh, . . . and here's a photo of Chumlee's girlfriend.
[DonDiego has no knowledge if the "sexual assault" has anything to do with her. He hopes not; she looks nice.]

"19 counts of drug possession" - Damn!

Doesn't anyone else ,think this girl screams prostitute?

The drug list:

- 1 gallon Ziploc with 116 grams (1/4 pound) of marijuana
- 2 clear jars of marijuana (8.2 grams and 2.8 grams)
- 1 bag with 4.4 grams marijuana
- 7 clear capsules with 1.7 grams of methamphetamine powder
- 17 Xanax bars

According to cops, Chumlee copped to smoking "a lot of weed" ... but insisted he's not a drug dealer. He said he typically buys in bulk, just for convenience.

Besides weed ... cops also found signs of cocaine use in the "Chum Chum" room, which has a stripper pole. Police say they found a clear plastic baggie with white residue and also a rolled up $1 bill with white residue.

Read more: https://www.tmz.com/2016/03/15/chumlee-search-warrant-drugs-marijuana-cocaine/#ixzz4375jOFAc

From The Urban Dictionary

XANAX BAR:
A 2 mg Xanax , that is shaped like a bar | ==== | . Can be divided into 1/4s . Abused by many.
Ex: "I just snorted a xanax bar , now i fill like rocking'. "

Excuse poor old DonDiego, . . . he has to get back to the "Don-Don Room".

When is big government going to get out of people’s private lives?

Until today, I didn't know that Nevada has a firearms law that automatically makes ownership, possession or custody of guns, illegal when a person is popped for illicit drugs. A clean criminal history doesn't matter, and neither does the legal purchase of the weapons. I would think this means he also can't work in or be a partial owner of a business that deals in firearms. He had quite a few guns in his home, likely all of them purchased or otherwise obtained legally. I don't know any details of the sexual assault charge, but that was the first domino that lead to the search warrant, that lead to the drug bust, and the subsequent weapons charges. He really screwed up!

From the arrest report:

"...in violation of NRS 202.360, Ownership or Possession of Firearm by Certain Persons Prohibited, which states, in part, a person shall not own or have in his possession or under his custody or control, any firearm if the person is an unlawful user of, or addicted to, any controlled substance."

Chumlee's Arrest Report

Seems like he could say he doesn't use, and get busted for possession with intent to distribute or admit HD uses and get busted for the guns.
That doesn't seem right.