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Discretion is the name of the game for most visitors flocking to the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Carson City, Nev., but Brian Brandt apparently wanted to make his presence known.
On Thursday, Brandt, an ex-trucker from Reno, backed a stolen tractor-trailer through the gate of the famed brothel and crashed it into the entrance at around 4 a.m., according to authorities and Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof.
Hof further revealed that Brandt, 40, was wearing body armor and a mask at the time of the crash.
“It sounded like a bomb went off in here,” said Jenny Jade, an employee who was sleeping near the site of the impact, in a statement to KOLO News.
“Everything was shaking.”
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Police apprehended and arrested Brandt shortly after the incident. He faces charges of assault with a deadly weapon, property destruction and possession of stolen property, the Lyon County Sheriff's Office said.
Despite the damage to the building, which Hof estimates to be around $400,000, none of his five employees, 30 prostitutes or 10 customers were injured at the time, he said.
Hof also shared photos of the damage on Twitter, along with security camera footage that shows the truck backing into the brothel.
The truck that Brandt was driving — an 18-wheeler with a yellow cab — had been reported stolen from his former place of work at Central Transport Trucking in northern Nevada, company spokesman Mickey Blashfield confirmed.
Blashfield further explained that Brandt was recently fired from the company for inappropriate behavior, though he would not elaborate. However, the director of corporate safety for CT Trucking, Bill Chapman, revealed to Fox 11 that Brandt was let go in February due to “accident related” measures.
Chapman also told Fox 11 that Brandt arrived at work in mid-May and assaulted a fellow employee with a four-foot steel bar.
A photo provided by Lyon County Sheriff's Office shows suspect Brain Brand, 40, of Reno, Nevada. (AP/Lyon County Sheriff's Office)
“He showed up at a central transport facility in Reno and viciously attacked an employee,” Chapman told KOLO. “He had a bone sticking out of his forearm, and he didn’t even know him.”
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Brandt’s motivations for targeting the Bunny Ranch remain unclear, but Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof theorized that Brandt wanted his 15 minutes of fame.
“My guess is that it would be worldwide news,” Hof told KOLO. “He thought if he drove his truck into a brothel full of 35 hot girls, it would be worldwide news.”
Brandt is being held at a detention facility in Yerington. According to the Associated Press, no lawyer representing him has been listed at the facility.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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