Pawn Stars' 'Chumlee' Jailed on Drug, Weapon Charges

Austin Lee Russell jailed after officers allegedly found meth, pot, gun
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 10, 2016 10:01 AM CST
Pawn Stars ' 'Chumlee' Jailed on Drug, Weapon Charges
This Clark County Detention Center photo, provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, shows Austin Lee Russell, 33, of Las Vegas, on Wednesday, March 9, 2016.   (Uncredited)

The man known to millions of cable TV viewers as Chumlee on the reality show Pawn Stars was being held late Wednesday in a Las Vegas jail following his arrest on felony weapon and drug charges, the AP reports. Austin Lee 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 a sex-crime allegation. Officer Larry Hadfield, a department spokesman, said that part of the investigation stemmed from a recent complaint by a woman, and it is continuing.

Russell was being held pending an initial court appearance on 19 drug-possession charges and one weapon charge, according to Clark County Detention Center records. His bail was set at $62,000. It wasn't immediately clear if Russell had a lawyer. A man who answered the phone at the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop on Las Vegas Boulevard said he had no information about the arrest. A follow-up voicemail was not returned. A spokesman for A&E Network and the History Channel declined to comment. (More reality TV stories.)

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