Henderson police detail drug allegations against psychologist charged in wife’s murder

Gregory "Brent" Dennis sits during a civil case between the family of his late wife, attorney Susan Winters, at the Regional Justice Center on Jan. 20, 2017. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @jeffscheid

Jailed psychologist Gregory “Brent” Dennis, an admitted drug abuser, regularly obtained prescription painkillers from his own patients in the months before and after his wife’s 2015 death, a police report alleges.

Dennis, 54, who runs a Boulder City mental health clinic, was arrested by Henderson police Thursday on a murder charge in the Jan. 3, 2015, death of his wife, attorney Susan Winters.

He is being held without bail and is to make his first appearance in Henderson Justice Court on Monday.

In a 27-page declaration of arrest obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Henderson Detective Ryan Adams said cellphone records show a pattern of calls and text messages between Dennis and his patients that support evidence the psychologist was trying to obtain prescription drugs.

“While the content of the calls has yet to be established, I was able to identify several patients of Dennis who were providing him prescription medications over a lengthy period of time,” Adams wrote.

Many of the patients had obtained prescriptions from a nurse practitioner who worked at Dennis’ clinic, Adams said.

Phone records show that the nurse kept in regular contact with Dennis in the year leading up to his wife’s death and prescribed painkillers for the psychologist’s patients 128 times during that period, according to the declaration of arrest. The communications stopped after Winters died.

‘COCAINE-ADDICTED HUSBAND’

Based mainly on information provided by Dennis, the Clark County coroner’s office concluded two years ago that Winters, 48, killed herself by consuming a lethal combination of prescription painkillers and antifreeze at the Henderson home she shared with Dennis and the couple’s two daughters. But the coroner is reviewing new evidence.

Adams said in his report that the nurse practitioner may have “knowingly or unwittingly” been the source of the painkillers found in Winters’ body.

The detective alleged that Dennis originally lied to police about his wife’s death and had a financial motive to kill her.

Dennis, who had been dealing with a cocaine addiction that was draining his finances, inherited roughly $2 million from his wife, including a $1 million life insurance policy, Adams wrote.

Review-Journal stories in September raised questions about whether Winters killed herself, disclosing that the district attorney’s office had informed Dennis that he was a target of a county grand jury homicide investigation.

Prior to her death, Winters had threatened to expose the addiction and take away his professional livelihood, Adams wrote in his report.

“In the months leading up to Winters’ death, Winters discovered that Dennis was a cocaine addict and suspected Dennis of being a homosexual because he was uninterested in sexual encounters with Winters,” Adams said. “Winters began research into how to deal with a cocaine addicted husband.”

Dennis then began to do internet searches into how to beat a drug test, according to the arrest report. Those searches led to searches about antifreeze that police believe were conducted by Dennis.

NO DISCIPLINARY ACTION

Months after Winters’ death, lawyers for her parents, Avis and Danny, filed a complaint against Dennis with the Nevada Board of Psychology based on his drug use and alleged role in their daughter’s death.

The board dismissed the complaint, citing a lack of supporting facts.

In October the Review-Journal reported that the parents filed a second complaint against Dennis with the board after Dennis admitted in a civil deposition that he bought drugs from a street dealer and sought treatment for substance abuse.

As of Friday, with Dennis sitting in jail, the psychology board’s website listed no disciplinary action against him. The board’s offices were closed Friday, and no one was available for comment.

Richard Schonfeld, who represents Dennis, declined to comment on the new drug allegations.

Dennis met with his drug dealer, Jeffrey Crosby, in the hours before his wife’s death, and continued seeing him on a regular basis after her death, according to the declaration of arrest.

Crosby, 44, who has a 2011 drug dealing conviction, was arrested in July and later indicted on a cocaine trafficking charge. He is free on bail and expected to be a witness in the murder case against Dennis.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564. Follow @JGermanRJ on Twitter.