The Washoe County District Attorney’s Office has announced the sentencing result of two cases involving convictions on drug offenses. Alexander Javon Skustad, age 22, from Reno was convicted late last year after having pled guilty to one count of Possession With Intent to Sell a Schedule I Substance, one count of Possession of a Controlled Substance for the Purpose of Sale and one count of Sell, Transport, Give, Attempt to Sell, Transport or Give Schedule I or II Controlled Substance, First Offense. Skustad was subsequently sentenced to an aggregate prison term of 12 years, with parole eligibility after a minimum of 4 years has been served.

In March 2019, the Reno Police Department (RPD) began an investigation into a report of a shooting. Responding RPD officers located Skustad, who had been shot twice. Skustad was in his vehicle with a female passenger and additional investigation determined that the shooting had occurred while the defendant was conducing drug sales. A search warrant was obtained and officers located Marijuana, Heroin, an empty gun case, .357 ammunition and over $2800.00 in cash. Skustad was transported to the hospital and treated for gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen. He was later booked into the Washoe County Jail on drug possession charges and later received probation. While on probation for the first case, RPD detectives began investigating Skustad again when photos of narcotics for sale were found on his social media accounts. This included offers by Skustad to sell Xanax, Marijuana and Percocet.   An undercover narcotics operation was conducted and Skustad was arrested for narcotics possession and sale offenses. Forensic testing of the narcotics seized in the operation revealed that some of the pills were laced with Fentanyl.

Deputy District Attorney Alison Ormaas prosecuted the criminal cases against Skustad and Deputy District Attorney (DDA) Mariah Northington handled sentencing arguments. DDA Northington argued that the defendant posed a risk to the community deserving of a lengthy sentence.