Star of popular late 90s show arrested in Terre Haute on prescription fraud charge
One of the stars of a popular late 90s tv show was arrested in Vigo County last week and is facing a pair of charges involving including prescription fraud.
The Terre Haute Police Department arrested Nicholas Brendon. Brendon played the character Xander, on the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The traffic stop
According to court documents, police were near Gilbert and Oak Streets when they saw a silver Dodge Journey fail to completely stop at a stop sign, cross the center line a couple of times, and almost hit a car.
Police stopped Brendon on Seabury Street, just west of 13th. Police said Brendon was "sweating profusely" and looked nervous with his "visibly racing pulse" on his neck. His hands were also reported to be shaking.
The investigation
Police asked Brendon to exit the vehicle and noticed he had bulky pockets. Police said they found a pill bottle in one of his pockets; the other had a key fob.
According to the court documents, Brendon identified himself as Kelton Schultz and gave police a California ID with the same name.
While running the name Kelton Schultz, police learned there was a warrant hit for Brendon out of Iowa, who has the same birthday as Shultz. The warrant information also warned Brendon has violent tendencies.
While dispatchers worked to confirm his identity, police said they started searching Brendon's vehicle.
During the search, they said they found a small plastic bag with crystal/powder residue. They also said they found prescription medication prescribed to "Nicholas Bender." That's when the officer on the scene suspected the false ID.
The Terre Haute Police Department brought a K-9 to help.
Police said the vehicle appeared new but noticed several parts of the carpet were cut. Several trim pieces were reportedly tampered with or broken.
A police K-9 alerted officers to the presence of drugs. During a deeper search, police said they found more bags with residue. On the floor of the vehicle, police said they found a pill bottle from Kroger on U.S. 41 in Terre Haute with the name Kelton Schultz.
Nicholas or Kelton? And the name on the pill bottles
According to police, an officer walked up to Brendon and said, "Hey Nick," and Brendon responded with "Yeah?" answering to the name Nick.
Police asked Brendon why he lied about his name. He said he has a twin brother but eventually admitted his name was Nicholas. At that point, he was taken into custody and charged with failure to identify.
