Rick Ross has been arrested and charged with battery in Miami-Dade County after an ex-girlfriend accused him of choking her in a fit of jealousy.
Inmate records viewed by the Daily Mail indicate he is facing two domestic violence charges, battery and battery by strangulation.
Ross, 50, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, turned himself in Thursday morning, two days after his ex called the police to report the alleged incident, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Daily Mail.
He was booked at 6:10am, posed for a mugshot and pled not guilty to both of the charges against him, with bond now set at $5,000.
His attorneys Steve Sadow and Bradley Horenstein released a statement insisting: ‘William Roberts II, professionally known as Rick Ross, is being wrongfully accused by an ex-girlfriend whose true motivations are unclear,’ via TMZ.
They maintained that the rapper’s accuser ‘did not even file a police report until a month after the claimed incident allegedly took place.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Ross’ representatives for comment.
Rick Ross has been arrested and charged with battery in Miami-Dade County after an ex-girlfriend accused him of choking her in a jealous fury; pictured in his mugshot
Inmate records viewed by the Daily Mail indicate he is facing domestic violence charges of battery and battery by strangulation
‘Mr Roberts is innocent and has pled not guilty to the charges. He respectfully requests that his friends, fans and the general public not prejudge the situation and allow the judicial process to run its course,’ his lawyers said.
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According to the arrest affidavit, Ross’ ex asserted that the alleged domestic violence incident took place on the morning of August 28.
She held that he woke her up that day at around 7:44am, ‘enraged’ over a photo he had supposedly seen her tagged in on social media.
Ross’ former girlfriend then accused him of slapping her in the face after he ‘questioned her about lying to him,’ per the legal document.
In her version of events, Ross accused her of being ‘in a relationship’ with someone she insisted was merely a ‘friend,’ the arrest record states.
As the supposed argument escalated, Ross was said to have struck her ‘several times’ in the chest, choked her until she was unable to breathe by twisting the collar of hoodie, ‘grabbed’ her ‘by the ponytail’ and slammed her into the wall, via the affidavit.
She has also accused him of leaving her with a ‘busted lip’ by hitting her while she was bent over, and of attempting to spray her with water from the shower head.
Although she was able to ‘escape’ the house, she then went back and stayed there until Ross left, whereupon she left with her belongings, the affidavit said.
His attorneys Steve Sadow and Bradley Horenstein released a statement insisting Ross was ‘being wrongfully accused by an ex-girlfriend whose true motivations are unclear’
The arrest record indicates that Ross’ ex-girlfriend had been romantically involved with him for a year and was living with him at the time of the purported incident.
She is also said to have provided a sworn statement to police, along with time-stamped photos of the injuries she claimed she sustained, per the affidavit.
According to Ross’ accuser, she called a friend to pick her up from the residence, but the friend was ‘turned away’ in a moment supposedly caught on CCTV.
Ross appeared Thursday in court, where one of his attorneys asked if his release could be ‘expedited’ in view of the danger he might face behind bars on account of his public profile.
‘I have no idea who you are,’ Judge Mindy Glazer told Ross in response, advising him that he would be treated ‘just like everybody else here.’
Ross’ arrest this week comes nine years after he accepted a plea bargain in a highly-publicized kidnapping trial that saw him accused of holding a groundskeeper at gunpoint and pistol-whipping him at his Georgia compound, according to TMZ.
The Hustlin’ hitmaker pled no contest to one count of felony aggravated assault, and, having already spent a week in jail, received a sentence of time served.
Ross was also given a $10,000 fine, but was classified as a first-time felony offender, meaning that upon payment of the fee the conviction was wiped from his record.
He was further sentenced to 60 months’ probation on five misdemeanor convictions – one count each of assault, battery and possession of less than one ounce of marijuana, plus two counts of pointing a pistol at someone.