Report: Chumlee of ‘Pawn Stars’ tells cops he smokes ‘a lot of weed’

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Published Tuesday, March 15, 2016 | 12:29 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, March 15, 2016 | 3:03 p.m.

Metro Police detectives found a locked floor vault while searching Austin “Chumlee” Russell’s master bedroom last week in connection with a sexual assault allegation made against the “Pawn Stars” cast member, according to an arrest report.

Inside the vault, police found about four ounces of marijuana, a dozen guns, methamphetamine and Xanax prescription pills, the report said.

Russell was hesitant to open the vault and told detectives he wasn’t a drug dealer but smoked “a lot of weed” and bought it in bulk, police said. He requested “leniency” for his cooperation in opening the vault, police said.

A search of the rest of his house, including a “Chum Chum room with dance pole,” netted detectives drug paraphernalia such as rolling papers, baggies and a pair of scales, according to police.

Attorneys for Russell declined to comment on the report, saying they’ll do their talking about the case in a courtroom, not the media.

“We will be analyzing what was allegedly found and whether the alleged seizure was lawful,” attorneys David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld said in an email statement. They said they looked forward to a just resolution of the case.

A spokesman for A&E Network and the History Channel, which airs “Pawn Stars,” declined by email to comment.

Investigators had originally showed up at Russell’s south Las Vegas Valley home in search of bedding, clothing, surveillance video, narcotics and DNA after a woman on March 3 alleged to police that Russell had sexually assaulted her, according to the report.

Russell has not been charged in the sexual assault investigation, which is ongoing, Officer Jesse Roybal, a Metro spokesman, said today.

Russell, 33, was arrested at his house Wednesday on 19 counts of drug possession and one count of possession of a weapon by a prohibited person, police said. The gun count was based on the presumption that a person “addicted” to a controlled substance is not allowed to be in possession of firearms, according to the report.

No formal charges have been filed thus far. Russell posted $62,000 bail and was freed from jail Thursday pending a May 23 court date.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.