Man walks free, gets guns back, after drug trafficking arrest

Writer: Matthew Seaver
Published: Updated:
Brandon Markell Adams (CREDIT: Lee County Sheriff’s Office)

Fort Myers Police arrested Brandon Adams last month, seizing more than a dozen guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and a bunch of illegal drugs from his home. Now he is walking free.

In September, Fort Myers Police arrested Adams and seized his weapons as part of a drug trafficking bust.

Officers also found scales, cash, cocaine and marijuana all in plain view inside Adams’ Dora Street apartment.

But it turns out that’s not enough evidence to make charges stick because three women were in the apartment during the arrest, bringing up questions and reasonable doubt as to whom the guns and drugs actually belonged.

“What construction constructive possession means is, is that it could be any one of the people that are in that apartment at the time,” said former prosecutor Scot Goldberg.

Goldberg said the state attorney needs to prove the drugs belonged to Adams to charge him with trafficking. “And if they can’t put it on one person, they don’t believe that they’re going to be able to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The location of the guns and drugs proved to be a problem. Whether they were in the living room versus his bedroom. “What they would have needed to come in as walked in and found his bedroom, where he spent all of his time and all of the drugs and everything were in there,” said Goldberg.

Prosecutors chose to decline the charges and have returned Adams’ 20 guns due to him not being a convicted felon.

Fort Myers Police said in a statement, “Law enforcement is aware of illicit drug activities and are taking action to remove these poisons from our streets.”

WINK News reached out to the state attorney’s office about their investigation. They said in a statement:

“This case was reviewed by Assistant State Attorney Paul Thomas. Charges could not be legally filed in this case due to multiple people living in the home and the drugs in plain sight. So there is no way to prove possession.

“There are no witness statements and no forensic evidence. The State Attorney’s Office handles the criminal case.”

Correction: An earlier version of the headline stated charges were dropped, however, charges were never filed due to lack of evidence.

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