BROOKINGS – A case of hitting a parked vehicle escalated into a man allegedly threatening others with a gun and resulted in Brookings Police arresting the suspect for meth distribution to a minor and other charges.

Court documents identify the suspect as 19-year-old Billie Nielsen of Brookings.

Brookings County criminal complaints show that Nielsen is facing nine charges, with eight of them being felonies, following his Friday arrest. They are: distribution of methamphetamine to a minor; possession with intent to distribute cocaine; violating a drug-free zone; maintaining a place for use or sale of a controlled substance; unauthorized possession of meth; ingesting meth; possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana; and two counts of aggravated assault.

Nielsen was being held on $15,000 cash or surety bond at the Brookings County Detention Center as of Monday afternoon.

The incident was reported at 2:30 p.m. Friday and occurred in the 1700 block of Torrey Pines Drive, BPD Assistant Chief Derrick Powers said.

The person reporting the incident said he saw a vehicle back into his parked car. The man then approached the driver of the other vehicle and they got into an argument.

“The driver of the vehicle actually pulled a hammer out from his car” and threatened the people he was talking to, Powers said.

“As the conversation between the individuals continued … according to the victim, (the driver) grabbed a gun from the vehicle and displayed it to the two people that were there, the reporting party and another individual that was with him,” Powers said.

Shortly after, the driver left the scene and the reporting party called the police department.

“Officers located the vehicle a short distance away. They were able to detain the driver and the passenger of the vehicle without incident,” Powers said.

The investigation led to a search warrant being issued for the driver’s residence, which is also in the 1700 block of Torrey Pines Drive.

“A controlled substance and marijuana were found in the residence,” Powers said.

“The investigation also revealed that this individual was involved in the distribution of controlled substances, which included recently distributing methamphetamine to a minor,” Powers said.

“In the suspect’s vehicle, there was a hammer that was found and a BB hand-gun,” Powers said.

There was minor damage to the parked vehicle that was hit, he added.

A BPD memorandum of arrest alleges that during the search of Nielsen’s residence, police located “numerous drug paraphernalia items (scales, baggies, empty capsules, pipes, etc.), growing materials for mushrooms, methamphetamine pipes that appeared to be for sale, multiple drug ledgers, a loaded 12-guage shotgun, suspected methamphetamine in clear capsules, and over 20 grams of cocaine divided into multiple baggies for distribution.”

Nielsen’s residence is within 1,000 feet of Mickelson Middle School, the memorandum notes.

Courtesy photo