DMX Arrest

DMX Arrest – Rapper DMX was arrested on drug and animal-cruelty charges after a pre-dawn raid produced enough evidence to arrest the rapper at his house early Friday.

In the DMX arrest, the 37-year-old rapper – whose given name is Earl Simmons – initially tried to barricade himself in his bedroom but emerged when a SWAT team entered his north Phoenix home during the 3 a.m. raid, sheriff’s spokesman Capt. Paul Chagolla said.

The arrest and search warrants stemmed from indictments issued against DMX for felony drug possession and misdemeanor animal cruelty charges. He made an initial court appearance Friday where bail was sent at $7,500, said his local attorney, Cameron Morgan.

The indictment stemmed from an August search of DMX’s home prompted by reports of dogs being abused on his property. Detectives seized 12 pit bull dogs, dug up remains of three others and found marijuana growing on the rural property.

During Friday’s raid, officials said more drugs were found and weapons seized. Additional charges against DMX are possible.

 

Simmons’ New York lawyer, Murray Richman, said he told his client to expect such a raid after his efforts to make DMX available to law enforcement were rebuffed.

“I anticipated it, I explained to my client what was going to happen,” Richman said. He said he believed evidence did not support the charges of animal cruelty, which has been a major focus of Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

“I think that the animal cruelty is not going to be able to be established,” Richman said, “and I think that this is Sheriff Joe’s moment.”

Regarding the DMX arrest, a statement from Sheriff Arpaio said someone of DMX means “has no excuse for not providing proper care for his animals.”

Sheriff’s deputies made a series of visits to the rapper’s home in August after receiving reports of neglected pit bulls. They found a caretaker who had been hired to look after the animals.

Richman said DMX was not in Arizona in the weeks leading up to the initial raid.

 

The rapper has had previous run-ins with the law, including a DMX arrest this past Tuesday by the Arizona Department of Public Safety after speed-enforcement cameras captured him going 114 mph on a suburban Phoenix freeway.

In June 2006, Scottsdale police cited him for carrying a concealed handgun outside a nightclub.

DMX also served 70 days in jail in 2005 for violating his parole following a 2004 incident in which he posed as an undercover federal agent and crashed his sport utility vehicle through a security gate at Kennedy International Airport.

And that’s the latest news on the latest DMX arrest.