https://www.foxnews.com/us/andrew-brown-jr-shooting-search-warrant-north-carolina-elizabeth-city
Andrew Brown Jr. search warrant: Drug deals captured on camera weeks before fatal police shooting
Search warrant says informant allegedly purchased illegal drugs from Brown for over a year
Andrew Brown Jr. – a Black man fatally shot as sheriff's deputies executed a warrant in Elizabeth City, N.C.,
on April 21 – was described as a drug dealer in the Pasquotank County
area and had a criminal rap sheet over 180 pages long and dating back to
May 1988, according to a copy of the search warrant and other records
obtained by Fox News.
Brown's family and their
attorneys entered the Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office Monday
afternoon to be privately shown the body camera footage of the shooting –
following a two-hour delay that Pasquotank County Attorney R. Michael
Cox said happened to blur faces and complete redactions to the video.
Six
days after the shooting, authorities have provided few details about
the circumstances of Brown's death, but Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy
Wooten II petitioned the court Monday for the public release of the
body-camera footage even as the North Carolina State Bureau of
Investigation continues its independent probe into Brown's death.
An
initial search warrant signed off by North Carolina Superior Court
Senior Resident Judge Jerry R. Tillett on April 20 states that Agent
R.D. Johnson of the Dare County Narcotics Task Force was in
communication with a confidential source who said they had been
purchasing narcotics from Brown for over one year. The informant claimed
that they had purchased different quantities of cocaine, "crack"
cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine from Brown on numerous occasions.
ANDREW BROWN JR. SHOOTING: ELIZABETH CITY, NC DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AHEAD OF BODYCAM VIDEO RELEASE
Brown
would sometimes travel to Dare County to deliver the narcotics,
according to the informant. Other times the informant traveled into
Elizabeth City to purchase narcotics from Brown at numerous hotel/motels
and Brown's residence on Perry Street on at least three occasions.
On
March 17, the Dare County Narcotics Task Force utilized the informant
to conduct a "controlled purchase" of a quantity of cocaine from Brown
that was recorded with audio/video devices. On March 29, the informant
carried out another controlled purchase of meth from Brown captured on
camera.
The warrant was requested by Pasquotank County Sheriff's Office Investigator D. Ryan Meads.
Meads
and other agents assigned to the Albemarle Drug Task Force are also
"familiar with Brown and know him to be a source of supply of
'crack' cocaine, cocaine, heroin/fentanyl and methamphetamine to the
Elizabeth City/ Pasquotank County area," the warrant states.
7 NORTH CAROLINA DEPUTIES ON LEAVE FOLLOWING ANDREW BROWN JR. DEATH: REPORTS
Investigators
believe the establishment at 421 Perry St. in Elizabeth City "is being
used to store, package and distribute narcotics, namely
'crack' cocaine," the warrant states. Two vehicles regularly seen at the
residence were believed to be in Brown’s possession and were being used
by him to store, traffic and distribute illegal narcotics. There is
reason to believe that the home was being used by Brown as a "secure
location" to store drugs, currency and recordation of sales or monies
owed, the warrant says.
The search warrant included photos of two
vehicles seen parked outside: a green 2004 BMW 745 LI four-door sedan
with a North Carolina license plate registered to Andrew Brown Jr., as
well as a second BMW four-door sedan that was gray in color and has a
fictitious license plate number.
The informant described Brown as a
"drug dealer" in the Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County area and admitted
to purchasing "crack" cocaine from Brown on multiple occasions. The
individual also witnessed crack cocaine inside the residence within 14
days of the application of the search warrant.
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Meads
has over 1,000 hours of law enforcement training, to include drug
enforcement, narcotics investigations and identification. As an employed
law enforcement officer he has dealt with informants, conducted
surveillance, arrested suspects, seized evidence and executed search
warrants. He has successfully developed narcotics investigations and
made felony and misdemeanor arrests for violations of the North Carolina
Controlled Substance Act, according to the warrant.
The
document, which indicated the search wasn't completed, didn't list
anything found. Fox News also obtained a copy of Brown's separate
criminal rap sheet that is more than 180 pages long and dates back to
May 1988. Arrest warrants against Brown that were released last
week charged him with possession with intent to sell and deliver
three grams of each of the drugs.
Fox News' James Levinson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.