The rapper surrendered to Miami Beach police on Thursday and was released on a $5,000 bond. His attorney says he is innocent.
Rick Ross was arrested in Miami Beach early Thursday (Oct. 1) and charged with battery after a woman he had been living with told police he hit her, The Associated Press reported.
Ross, 50, whose legal name is William Roberts II, turned himself in at the Miami Beach Police Station two days after the woman filed a police report. Online court records show he faces a felony charge of battery by strangulation and a misdemeanor battery charge. He was released later Thursday on a $5,000 cash bond. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 22.
According to the arrest report, the woman told detectives that on Aug. 28, Ross accused her of cheating on him and struck her multiple times. She said he also choked her with the collar of her shirt and slammed her into a wall. She told police she was able to leave the home and returned later, after Ross had left, to collect her belongings.
Ross’s attorney, Steve Sadow, said in a statement that his client is being wrongly accused by an ex-girlfriend whose motives are unclear, and noted that she did not file a police report until a month after the alleged incident. “Mr. Roberts is innocent and has pled not guilty to the charges,” Sadow said. He asked fans and the public not to prejudge the case and to let the judicial process run its course.
This is not the first time Ross has faced criminal charges. In 2017, he pleaded no contest to aggravated assault after he was accused of forcing a man into a guesthouse at his suburban Atlanta home in 2015 and beating him with a handgun. Under Georgia’s first-offender program, the court later issued an order exonerating him of guilt on that felony count.
Ross broke through in 2006 with “Hustlin’,” a double-platinum single that helped put Miami on the hip-hop map at a time when Atlanta and Houston dominated Southern rap. The song set off a label bidding war that ended with Def Jam, then run by Jay-Z. His debut album, “Port of Miami,” opened at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was followed by more chart-toppers, including “Trilla” (2008) and “Deeper Than Rap” (2009). He has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards, and in 2008 he founded Maybach Music Group, the label that boosted the careers of Wale, Meek Mill and French Montana. His most recent album, “Set in Stone,” came out in July.
Ross is due back in court on Oct. 22.
Source: The Associated Press via ABC7
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