69 South
Podcast 69 South is about mystery, true crime, attempting to find the truth in a world full of chaos. We dig deep in to current and past true crime incidents. Reporting what we find to our listeners. We want to become your reliable source for all things relevant, while we live in a society that is truly lost.
69 South
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied: How a Child Predator DUSTIN LEI BROWN Kept Getting Second Chances
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Disclaimer: All defendants are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY in a court of law. All facts are alleged until a conviction!
Welcome to 69 South, where we cuss and discuss true crime, current events and hot topics, along with our state of society today. This is your trigger warning. Our podcast content is produced for viewers and listeners 18 years of age or older. We discuss topics that may be triggering to some listeners, so sit back, relax and enjoy. Sit back, relax and enjoy. Welcome back everybody to 69 South, the podcast where we rip into the wild weird and straight-up dark stories from our corner of the world. I'm your host, chop, and with me always is my beautiful co-host, julie.
Speaker 2:Hello, I'm right here for you today. So we are tackling a beast of a story, one that will leave you shaking your head and checking your locks.
Speaker 1:That's right. We're diving into Dustin L Brown, a volunteer firefighter, youth baseball coach through the fire department, even a reserve deputy for a hot minute in Paragon, Indiana Guy sounds like a pillar of the community, right? Well, buckle up, because this ride goes straight to hell.
Speaker 2:Five criminal cases from 2017 to 2024. Sexual battery, child exploitation the works. We've got court filings, two probable cause affidavits straight from the source, sentencing documents that will make your blood boil and a saga of leniency that's unreal. This is the full, unfiltered truth.
Speaker 1:So grab a drink, something to eat, settle in. We're not cutting any corners on this one. It's going to be long, it's going to be raw and it's all coming your way. Let's roll.
Speaker 2:Let's take it back to March 17, 2015 in Paragon, indiana, a small town where trust runs deep. Dustin Brown is 35. He's living at some home in Paragon, indiana. He's a volunteer firefighter. He's coaching kids in the youth baseball program through the fire department, maybe still a reserve deputy at this point, we don't really know. He's got a family wife, kids and the whole setup but that night he crosses the line. That changes everything.
Speaker 1:We got the probable cause affidavit for case 55D01-1703, filed March 22, 2017, from Detective Steele, indiana State Police. The victim let's call her Victim F is Dustin's family member, 16 at the time, 17 when she talks. She's a high school senior, 3.8 GPA, a track star who ran 8 miles a day, finished 11th in the state, broke school records and landed a full-ride scholarship. A kid with faith, brains and plenty of grit.
Speaker 2:Now Victim F is a standout, but listen to this from the affidavit On February 2nd 2017, she's at Susie's place in Bloomingtonton, indiana, telling the counselor what went down. It's recorded and it's brutal. That night, dustin walks into her bedroom with porn playing on his phone. Quote two people in bed having sex, a female perform performing oral sex on a male, while he had a hold of the female by the hair. There was hair pulling and ropes were involved. It was a black and red website Porn, something she said.
Speaker 1:He sits on her bed and says pull your pants down and then drops this line on her. Okay, we're not really related. Victim F, with her belief that things happen for a reason, goes along with it. Here's the affidavit again. She goes on then to say that Dustin violated her sexually with his fingers. She was not okay with that. She jumped when he touched her and she said it hurt really bad. Then he also asked her to touch him in his private areas and she said no.
Speaker 2:It stops when another family member, married to victim f's adopted brother, knocks on the door. Dustin tells victim f she couldn't tell anyone because it would ruin his career as a volunteer firefighter and he would lose his kids. Victim f tells the family member nothing when she asks, rolls over and tries to go to sleep. But she's torn up and says it's made her feel dirty and she feels guilty and she wants to go stay with her aunt instead of going home.
Speaker 1:Victim F pins it to three days after her 16th birthday. She's wearing a camo T-shirt and he's in basketball shorts and hanged socks. You know details stick with you when it's something traumatic like that. January 31st 2017, dcs gets involved and by March 23rd, dustin's arrested. Sexual battery level six felony. Max 2.5 years $10,000 fine.
Speaker 2:But here's the kicker On November 19, 2018, he takes a plea deal. The affidavits got this nightmare laid out in it and he gets 912 days, of which 910 of those days are suspended. So he only served one day in jail and he gets 912 days on probation. That is beyond lenient. That is a free pass.
Speaker 1:Right, he's a sex offender now supposed to register with the state name address, all of it. But we're going to see how he botches that later. For now he's back out, no real consequences, and that's just the start.
Speaker 2:Now we move on to April 21st 2017. Dustin's out on bond from case one and case two slams in and case two slams in. This is cause number 55C01-1704-FA-000836. Now this case has 12 counts a class A felony child molesting, a level three rape, four counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, and those are level five felonies. And then he has level six felonies for sexual misconduct with a minor and he also has an old class C child molesting for a victim under 14. Now, this is a predator unleashed under 14.
Speaker 1:Now, this is a predator unleashed A Class A felony. That's 20 to 50 years. Right, that's 3 to 16. If you was to stack all them, 12 charges consecutively. He's looking at over 100 years. But get this. His bond is 2,000 cash and 3,000 surety, which that means he'll take 2,000 cash to the jail and pay 10% of the $3,000 surety to a bondsman Steny's walking free while this looms.
Speaker 2:Now let's break down the plea deal because we've got the documents filed on October 18th Excuse me, october 10th 2018. In Morgan County Circuit Court, the state drops the big charges Class A child molesting, rape all of it for two counts of sexual battery which, since the dates predated 2014,. They are Class D felonies, which are level six, post-2014. Now here's what the police says Count 10 sexual battery. He's fined $1. Court cost and a $50 child abuse fee and sentenced to three years on home detention through community corrections. Count 12 sexual battery through community corrections. Count 12, sexual battery. Same fine, but three years in Morgan County Jail, all suspended to probation.
Speaker 1:In the terms of his probation, no contact order for the victims during his sentence. Counts 1 through 9 and 11 are dismissed. Counts 10 and 12 run consecutive to each other and then case consecutive to each other and to case 155 D01 F6593. It's signed by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and Dustin's Attorney October 10th 2018.
Speaker 2:Sentencing happens November 9th 2018. We've got the judgment order from Judge Hanson. We've got the judgment order from Judge Hanson. It confirms that count 10 is 1,080 days home detention with 30 days credit plus 30 good time credit, followed by 1,080 days probation. Count 12 is 1,080 days in Morgan County Jail, all suspended to probation. All suspended to probation. Fines and court costs total $185, plus another $1 fine, $50 child abuse fee and $134.50 in court costs paid out of the bond to the remainder of his attorney or the remainder goes to his attorney.
Speaker 1:What's up with these $1 fines, man? I got a public intoxication one time. I think they fined me like $150.
Speaker 2:But you can walk around as a kid diddler and only get fined $1. I think these fines can go up to like $10,000 on the level six felonies and you know the monetary fine can go up higher the higher the charge. Why is he only getting fined the bare minimum? They could take these fines for child exploitation or victims of that. They could be charging these sex offenders these larger fines, I mean, and at least it can go in a victim's assistance fund or something like that. I mean fine them more than a dollar.
Speaker 1:I mean. The reason that they have fines from $1 to $10,000 is because these charges could range from doing something. I'm not going to say it's minimal, but the difference in driving after a lifetime suspension in Indiana is the same thing. That's a Class C felony too. And then these child molestation charges are Class C felonies. That's why they have the variations in fines, because the dude who ain't got no license he's driving to work, his fine should be a dollar. This dude that's raping kids, his fine should be $10,000 in my mind Exactly.
Speaker 1:And here's his probation order. They say it's strict, but standard conditions, exactly Exactly living near schools or parks, no internet access, no contact with kids under 16, substance abuse, evaluation, the works. He's supposed to live at a certain address during his probation too.
Speaker 2:Now let that sink in. Case two starts with a potential life sentence, 50 years, just for the class A, and they whittle it down to an ankle, monitor time and more probation no prison. Those drop charges could have buried him, but the system hands him another soft landing.
Speaker 1:I wonder if this was one of them cases where the prosecutor in the courts was trying to save the victims from having to testify. I know we've seen that in a few cases that we've looked at.
Speaker 1:But that much leniency, I know it seen that in a few cases that we've looked at. But that much leniency I know it's mind-blowing by now. His firefighter days, coaching gig, the reserve deputy stint, they're all history. He's a registered sex offender after Case 1's conviction in 18. No legally way he's to be near kids anymore, but he's still in the community, untouchable.
Speaker 2:Now let's jump into case number three. This is February 14th of 2018. This is a child molesting class C felony, a max of eight years. He's on bond from cases one and two and now this hits. This guy is a walking red flag.
Speaker 1:Bonds, 600 cash and 3,000 surety Same as before. Then he's out again November 20th 2018, right after cases one and two wrap. The state dismisses it. No conviction, no time. Poof Disappears.
Speaker 2:Plea package 101. They fold case three into the others, let it slide to keep the deal sweet. Eight years off the table, just like that. More leniency for a guy who is proving that he does not deserve it.
Speaker 1:It sounds like his sentences are getting better as he commits more crimes.
Speaker 2:No shit, it's like they're playing hot potato with him.
Speaker 1:Pass him around. No one wants to hold on. He's supposed to be a registered sex offender now, but that's a rule he's going to break.
Speaker 2:Now on to July 27th 2021, case four 2021 case four and this is out of Hendricks County as failure to register as a sex offender, a level six felony. The max sentence for this is two and a half years. Now, after case one, he's legally bound to register and tell the state where he's at, who he is. But Dustin, he's like nah, I'm good.
Speaker 1:This is his first big post post-conviction fumble. He's been a sex offender since 2018, and he's already ignoring the rules. August 25th 2022, he pleads guilty 180 days all credited time served, plus $6,056 restitution to three people. No idea what that's about, but he's shelling it out idea what that's about, but he's he's shelling it out.
Speaker 2:July 2021 is also when a probation revocation petition drops for cases one and two. He's not just skipping registration, he's tanking everything. The august 22 case one nails him with 300 days in county jail. September case two hits 889 days in the department of corrections. Consecutive, that's 1189 days locked up, running late 2022 to around february 2025, in which he's still in jail right now finally, dude's doing some time in jail for this shit.
Speaker 1:But that registration Dodge, it's a neon sign. He's not reforming, he's just bidding time for the next move.
Speaker 2:Now we move on to March 25th, 2024, case five, and this is out of Morgan County. Dustin is 44 at this time and he's living in Martinsville. He's out of prison, maybe on parole, and he's back in the game. We have Detective Moscato's affidavit from Bloomington PD and it's a horror show.
Speaker 1:February 20th, 2024, ncmec flags a google account uploading a video two boys, 12 and 14, sexual acts in a hotel room. Google links it to dustin at that address. Snapchat's got selfies him naked and chats with a 14 and 15 year olds. He's begging for dick pics, offering to stream himself showering. One kid says I'll come on you.
Speaker 2:Oh disgusting. So March 18th cops raid the house. Dustin, he's read his Miranda warnings and he confesses he's sending and receiving child porn. Knows the kids are 12 to 16. He uses his phone and tablet stuff he's banned from as a sex offender. They find a video on his device and he's back in Morgan County Jail.
Speaker 1:Five charges Child exploitation level four 12 years max. Possession of child pornography level five six years. Child solicitation a level five six years. Sex offender internet offense level six 2.5 years. Dissemination of matter harmful to minors another level six two and a half years. Now, the total for all these charges together could be 29 years in jail and $50,000 in fines, which will be a buck.
Speaker 2:He's been in well since over 370 days by March 30th 2025. So yesterday, the plea hearing is on May 2nd 2025, with the pre-sentence investigation ordered. It says bond is $20,000 or $1,200 cash and I don't think he's getting out. He's been tagged as a repeat sexual offender and all that. He's sitting in there until he gets this plea deal.
Speaker 1:I have to say that is one hell of a jump from victim F's bedroom to a digital dragnet. The leniency is over from the court. I would think by now he's in too deep.
Speaker 2:So let's pull it all together. Dustin starts as a paragon fixture volunteer firefighter coaching Little League reserve deputy for a hot minute. He's trusted, he's trusted, he's connected, he's close with kids. Then, in 2015, he's in victim F's room porn on, assaulting her, using his firefighter gig to keep her quiet.
Speaker 1:Case one affidavit lays it bare Pain, coercion, guilt and he walks away with one day served. That's leniency on steroids, in my opinion. Case two they drop a class A felony child molestation, 50 years possible for two level sixes, no jail, home detention and probation with strict rules. He clearly didn't follow. Case three vanishes. He's a sex offender. By 2018, supposed to register, but case four in 2021, he's blowing it off. Strike one on playing straight.
Speaker 2:Those plea deals are jaw-dropping. Over 100 years in case, two shaved to an ankle, monitor time and probation. The system's like he'll sort himself out. Spoiler, he doesn't. Registration flops, revocation hits and by 2024, he's preying on kids online.
Speaker 1:Total time served around 1,770 days. That's 1,400 from the first four, 370 plus in case five. The financial hit on Dustin $7,741 and more pending Max across all five. If he would have gotten Max it would have been over 147 years if they would have thrown the book at him.
Speaker 2:Early on. He's out after 211 days. One from case one, 30 from case two, 180 from case four. That's it until revocations by case five. 29 years could flip the script. Now victim F in 2015,. A slew of 12 to 16-year-olds in 2024. This guy is a serial threat.
Speaker 1:From his own family to kids. On Snapchat he's wrecked lives over and over. It seems to me May 2nd 2025. We'll see if justice finally sticks.
Speaker 2:Now let's take a step back here. I've been glued to this Dustin Brown mess and it's been a gut punch following every twist and every turn, especially with what went down a few days ago.
Speaker 1:What's got you rattled babe?
Speaker 2:So I was at this hearing on March 28th. Now, this was supposed to be a change of plea for that 2024 case. Right, we don't have the full affidavit from that earlier big case where they dropped the rape and heavy charges, but we've got some sentencing crumbs to chew on. Anyway, I'm there and guess who shows up the victim from the dropped case, number two. Well, there was most of the charges dropped, but there was two counts that he did plead to. Now this guy is in tears and just wrecked. You could feel his frustration when the judge pushed the hearing back.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I bet he was Seeing that in person. That's pretty heavy. What was Dustin doing while this was all going down?
Speaker 2:Now get this. He's playing dumb, acting like he didn't even know about the hearing, and word is his lawyer bailed over unpaid bills. But some new guy popped up on Zoom to confirm the reset. The judge ordered a pre-sentencing investigation to dig into Brown's whole history criminal, social, everything. That's got me edgy.
Speaker 1:PSI. Huh, that could mean they're cooking up a plea deal. Maybe one charge like that level four, felony, six years tops.
Speaker 2:That's what I'm afraid of. Six years for a habitual offender. He's got the record to push for way more the victim's pain, though If they drop an impact statement it might tip the scales, but I don't know. Now they reset that and set the PSI out, and there's another hearing on May 2nd, so hopefully it doesn't get dragged out even more.
Speaker 1:Man, I could hear a little bit of upsetness in your voice when you were talking about that victim. Did that really get to you seeing him there?
Speaker 2:Well, seeing him break down it hit me hard. It made me wonder if that raw emotion could sway the judge. Push for real justice instead of another slap on the wrist deal. It's bigger than the legal back and forth. It's about what's at stake for the people he hurt.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's the heart of it, and now you're weaving that into this whole story. Where does it fit for you?
Speaker 2:I don't know, but I just hope they put this guy away forever, because it was just heartbreaking and I mean, and not only was the guy there, I believe it might have been his mother or someone in that form of person for him. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do want to say that a lot of people on Facebook and stuff said that they didn't think that he was a Paragon reserve deputy yes, but I actually spoke to a police officer I'm not going to mention his name, but he said that and he's a pretty reliable dude too.
Speaker 1:He said that this Dustin Brown was a reserve cop in Paragon and he was under Dave Zoller and he was under Dave Zoller and then when this cop started being a cop around Morgan County, he said this Dustin dude, every time he would go on a chase or something like literally he said that oh, these people got away, oh, this person, I couldn't catch them. He said it was always some kind of bullshit story.
Speaker 1:So the dude wasn't a reserve cop for very long. I guess it was just all lies and bullshit. I mean, as you could tell by the dude's charges, what kind of duty is yeah, disgusting, sorry, excuse for a human anyway. So back to the courtroom. You said the poor dude that was what you thought was a victim was like crying and red eyed and real puffy. Like you could tell he was super upset.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they asked me if I knew Dustin and I'm like hell, no, I don't know him. I was like I'm just here from the podcast reporting and she smiled real big and it was just like heartwarming, you know.
Speaker 1:Was he on Zoom, or did they really bring his ass in there?
Speaker 2:No, he come in clanking his chains. He's gotten real fat since one of these since I don't know, I guess it's like a meth looking picture that I posted oh, definitely definitely.
Speaker 2:And then there's another picture where he don't look as strung out but he's gained a bunch of weight and he looked like a big old fat pumpkin walking in there and his jail oranges. And then, like the court wasn't ready to go yet and the bailiffs that were there didn't want him sitting in the courtroom with the victim, so they were cool and they took him out of the courtroom until, um, the prosecutor and the judge came in and got decided and everything. But I thought that was cool for them to remove him from the courtroom while the victim had to sit in there, because I mean you could cut the tension with a knife.
Speaker 1:And here we go, man, another one of these people, just like teachers and security guys, here you go a fireman, and also he's a baseball coach for little kids.
Speaker 2:He was. He's not allowed to be one of them anymore.
Speaker 1:But did you think that he abused his coaching position?
Speaker 2:to molest them. Is that what some of these cases are for. Well, yeah. And then you know, all he wanted to be a reserve deputy for was the title Like oh, I'm a reserve, reserve deputy. And then that just comes with a sense of trust to some people right, it's disgusting really so, absolutely, he used his position and I think he was just getting those positions to be able to say, oh, I can, I'm this and I'm a pillar in my community.
Speaker 1:I know every time you mentioned that he was a cop. Like I said about the people on Facebook, it was like I don't think he was a cop. Well, he really was.
Speaker 2:Like for a hot minute, though I wouldn't even say I don't think I mean.
Speaker 1:The people who wanted to voice about it wanted to stress that, as far as anybody knows that he didn't abuse anybody or do any of these crimes you know, using his badge to do- that they just didn't want me to say that on there. I would like to say about that Susie's Place in Bloomington. If you're not familiar with what that is, that's like a safe place that you can go if you're a kid and you're getting abused by your parents or you're getting abused or sexually abused and you.
Speaker 2:That's where you go to talk to him and tell him all about it right.
Speaker 1:So if you have any problems like that going on, look up suzy's place because it's a safe place. We've heard nothing but good things about that, and also this is another case that one of the charges ran off of a tip from the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Good for them, boy, they're on it. They must have 10 people.
Speaker 2:That tip came from Snapchat. Snapchat sent it to NCMEC again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, could you imagine you getting in trouble? I mean, I'm not saying for child molest or anything, but could you imagine you getting in trouble and one of your things could be no internet. They might as well put you on probation for a hundred years and give you the internet back.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to be in trouble.
Speaker 1:I know, but that's I mean. That must feel like you have to have internet to do damn near anything these days, like you're going to mess up so bad that you can't even get on the frigging internet. What the hell would you do? I mean like I mean I remember 30 years ago when there wasn't no internet and we did fun shit. But I mean now 50% of everybody's life, it seems like, is on the phone or on something 90% of the time it is.
Speaker 2:But if you go to fill out job applications or you go— Social Security now is online or something else, I don't know, or if you want to get in rap with Grok for a minute, trying to get his ass to tell you something or whatever?
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't know. I'm old school. I'd still have a messed up time living without the Internet. I'm just being honest. We had quite a few people wanting us to do this Dustin Brown case. I hope you guys are happy that we put his ass on blast. So, speaking of going to court dates, I had to go build some shit today, but Miss Julie got to go see one of our most infamous cases people's. Yet you went to see who today, babe.
Speaker 2:I had to look at Sonia Stafford today.
Speaker 1:The old battle axe herself.
Speaker 2:Oh, don't say that at.
Speaker 1:Sonia Stafford today, the old battle axe herself. Oh, don't say that. So didn't we hear that supposedly she was sending pictures of victims around and could possibly get bond revoked and or asked you and from the judge today?
Speaker 2:I heard that but I didn't hear any. I mean, I heard about that before I went to court. It's kind of like a whisper in the wind of stuff that's going on behind the scenes, but when I got to court I didn't hear nothing about that. But can you believe Sonia Stafford had this shit eating grin on her face through the whole entire court proceeding. I'm telling you, it's just like this grin that you just want to smack off of her.
Speaker 1:I mean, you're pretty good at reading people. You think it was one of those nervous grins.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Or it was a. I'm probably going to get out of this bullshit. You're wasting my freaking time, corinne.
Speaker 2:She had no remorse at all for not a thing she's done. When you look at that woman, she is pure evil. In my opinion. She did not have an ounce of remorse at all and the only thing that she was worried about was getting her laptop um back from evidence and the prosecutor was like we've made a forensic copy, that's what you'll get. You're not getting your original laptop back. Uh, why would her attorneys even ask that? I mean, if they're good criminal defense attorneys, they're no, they're not. I mean, are you going to give somebody their gun back that they shoot somebody with?
Speaker 1:I don't know, or are you just going to give them the test results from it? I wonder if it's some kind of badass laptop or something, because, man, you can go get a laptop for $100 or $200, $300.
Speaker 2:She said she had evidence that's going to help in her case on this laptop.
Speaker 1:Oh. So they told her, oh, the digital download. They're going to give her everything that they found on her laptop, but not give her her laptop back Everything.
Speaker 2:They extracted the whole laptop and I guess, yeah, that's what they said they extracted the whole laptop and she's going to be getting a copy of it. What they said they extracted the whole laptop and she's going to be getting a copy of it. And then we still have brian stafford's motion to dismiss I don't know if it's some or all the charges and that hearing is coming up on may 1st and also on may 1st there's going to be a walk for justice for the Stafford children outside the courthouse, I'm told, at 8 am and if anybody wants to know about that, I do have the point of contact information for the person who's organizing that. You can DM the podcast or get in the comments to figure out more information about that.
Speaker 1:But it's going to be fun. We also heard that the nice ladies down at Centerton gas station are going to join in that walk. So, everybody, let's get together and go down there and strut our stuff for the Stafford victims.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Well, lovely listeners, that about wraps up our story for this particular day's episode. We appreciate you listening in on us and look us up on Facebook, on Twitter.
Speaker 2:It's X now. Shows you how much I get on that shit yeah, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, all of them basically.
Speaker 1:Facebook, twitter, tiktok, youtube, all of them, basically, chop and Julie kind of share this R69 South socials on both of our iPhones. So I'll be at work and I've got 3 million freaking notifications on it. I don't see how you keep up with it, man. I probably shoot as many nails riffing a house as you do checking notifications and I got a nail gun.
Speaker 2:It's never ending. I will tell you that.
Speaker 1:But until then, go get you a badass 69 South t-shirt. Our spring logo is in the mix and it is so cute and tight it's coming. You guys will love it. Flowers all wrapped around behind and shit, it's pretty cool. But until then, you next time.
