Kanye West Facing Misdemeanor criminal charges in Los Angeles County Court
Posted By Robert Bernstein on Mar 30, 2009 3:13pm PDT
Kanye West has been charged with three
criminal misdemeanor offenses. The musician faces charges of
vandalism,
battery and
grand theft stemming from a run-in with a cameraman in the Los Angeles Airport last September. West's manager Don Crowley has also been charged with two counts each of vandalism, battery and grand theft. Back in September, West reportedly broke a camera light on the equipment belonging to paparazzi while they were shooting footage of him in a public area of the airport. Crowley is accused of breaking both the video camera and a still camera also on scene. If found convicted and sentenced to the maximum, Kanye West faces up to two and a half years in jail while Crowley faces up to five. Both men are scheduled to be arraigned on April 14th in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Rap Star T.I. sentenced to prison in
Federal Criminal Case
Rap star T.I. was sentenced in Federal Court in Atlanta, GA to serve one year and one day in prison and ordered to pay a $100,300 fine on weapons charges related to his purchase of machine guns and silencers. The rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris, reached the terms of the sentence in a plea agreement with prosecutors last year. T.I. / Harris also was sentenced to some property forfeiture, supervised release for three years after his prison sentence, 365 days of home confinement and 1,500 hours of community service. He has already served 305 days of home confinement and 1,030 hours of service. In addition to his prison sentence, the rapper must also undergo DNA testing and drug counseling, he cannot own firearms and must submit to law enforcement searches without a warrant. The Rapper's sentence was a result of a plea bargain, if he not reached a plea deal he could have been facing up to a maximum of 10 years in Federal Prison.
T.I. / Harris was arrested in October 2007 in an Atlanta parking lot hours before he was to perform at the BET Award show. Harris was caught in a federal sting after his bodyguard-turned-informant delivered three machine guns and two silencers to him, prosecutors said. The rapper had provided the bodyguard with $12,000 to buy the weapons. Harris was already not allowed to posses and firearms as a result of his previous 1998 on
felony drug conviction --
possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute.