Rockstar Burgers owner facing domestic assault charge indicted in $1.7M drug conspiracy
A former West Bottoms restaurant owner charged with domestic assault has now been indicted in a federal drug trafficking conspiracy case.
The owner of Rockstar Burgers, 42-year-old Brian Smith, is among 18 defendants who were indicted in a drug conspiracy to distribute more than 150 kilograms, or about 330 pounds, of methamphetamine and more than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of heroin valued at more than $1.7 million, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday alleges the defendants engaged in the drug conspiracy from Jan. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2020.
Several of the defendants face additional charges.
Smith is also charged with money laundering and illegally possessing a firearm.
Late last year, Smith was arrested for domestic assault. Prosecutors in Platte County allege he struck an ex-girlfriend in the head with a handgun.
Smith pleaded not guilty to the allegations and a trial is scheduled for Feb. 1.
In late November, hundreds of people began calling for the business to shut its doors after graphic imagery was posted on a page for the restaurant.
On Dec. 9, police raided Rockstar Burgers, the West Bottoms restaurant Smith owned, as part of a sexual assault investigation. The restaurant, which opened in 2013, closed indefinitely.
A search warrant application for that raid said that a woman reported she was raped in April in a loft above Rockstar Burgers. No charges have been brought in that case.
Court records show he was charged in June with animal abuse and sex with an animal in Jackson County.
Smith’s attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
