State lawmaker denies persistent drug issues at his tavern, where three overdosed, one died 

The fentanyl-laced drugs that killed one person and caused three more to overdose in Saukville were bought at Republican Rep. Rob Brooks’ tavern, the Railroad Station, which has been the subject of multiple calls to police in recent years, according to the Associated Press.

Brooks stated he was aware of issues with drugs at the bar shortly after purchasing it but thought they had been addressed.

A regular patron of Brooks’ bar sold cocaine laced with fentanyl to 28-year-old Nick Hamilton and three friends attending a birthday party there on May 5. Hamilton overdosed that night and died in the hospital on May 8. Brooks said he was not at the bar that weekend.

While Brooks has sponsored measures to crack down on drug distribution as a member of the Assembly, police have been called for drug-related complaints at his bar.

In 2018, an undercover informant told Ozaukee County Sheriff’s deputies that a patron regularly dealt drugs at the Railroad Station on Thursday evenings. Officers searched for the man at the bar and other locations but did not find him.

Brooks said he was not aware of the 2018 police report and had no reason to suspect drugs were being used or sold at his bar in recent years.

Brooks owns several other businesses in the Saukville area. He was first elected to the Assembly in 2015. A bill he authored that was signed into law in his first term allows landlords to evict tenants with five days’ notice for using, making, or selling drugs at a rental property.