On Thursday, Brandi Brandt left her California home, her three children and flew to Australia for the verdict in her drug smuggling case – the sentence was harsh, she will be jailed up to 6 years.
So how did Nikki Sixx’s ex end up in an Australian jail? In 2007, authorities began monitoring the activities of a drug ring lead by Brandt’s former boyfriend Rusty Setser.
Setser and several other people had built an empire
transporting cocaine via Qantas and United Airlines flights between Los Angeles and Sydney.
They were trafficking the illegal substance thanks to the catering companies. When the stuntman was banned from entering the country, he recruited Playboy’s Playmate of the Month for October 1987 to carry several grams of cocaine in toilets on passenger planes.
Brandt was also transferring thousands of dollars between the two countries (at some point she was carrying $130k from one place to another).
Brandt who was married to Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx appeared in the Downing Centre District Court looking like she was beaten by life in her prison uniform.
The once beautiful model who graced the cover of March 1990 issue of Playboy with business mogul Donald Trump shared her sad life story via her lawyer Phillip Boulten.
The attorney explained that the 45-year-old
Married… with Children actress had a very tough upbringing and blamed her parents for exposing her to drugs and alcohol at a young age.
He went on to make an emotional plea saying that Gunner, Decker and Storm’s mom had stopped using drugs and had a job for several months.
Brandt became a bracelet designer who sold her products online. While Judge Peter Zahra did acknowledge that Brandt did not play an important role in the cocaine importation syndicate, he concluded that she would be jailed for 6 years.
However, Brandt will be eligible for parole in 2016.
I was a big fan of hers, back in the days.
Sad for her family.