Rap superstar Rick Ross was taken into custody by the US Marshals Service fugitive task force on Wednesday morning with a man described as his bodyguard. The rapper is being held in jail on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated battery.
Ross is accused of forcing a man into a guesthouse at his suburban-Atlanta mansion and beating him in the head with a handgun, chipping his teeth and mangling his jaw so badly that he's unable to chew food, authorities say in court records. Ross, who is 39-years-old, whose real name is William Roberts, is imprisoned without bail. Ross' bodyguard, 42-year-old Nadrian James, faces kidnapping and aggravated battery charges stemming from the same incident, arrest warrants state.
The June 7 attack left the man with injuries that included two chipped teeth and a neck injury, authorities said. "The victim lost use of his jaw and is restricted to soft foods and liquid diet only as a result of not being able to chew food," an arrest warrant states.
When officers armed with the arrest warrants showed up at the mansion, once owned by boxer Evander Holyfield, someone inside refused to open the gate leading to the home, authorities said. "They refused to open the gate, so we opened the gate for them," Joyner said. Once officers got past the gate, someone inside opened the front door so they didn't have to break it down, Joyner said. Ross and the bodyguard were then taken into custody without incident, Joyner said. "They didn't put up a struggle or anything," he said.
Ross made an initial appearance before a magistrate judge Wednesday morning and the judge denied bail, Fayette County sheriff's spokesman J. Allen Stevens said. It was second time in the past two weeks Ross has been arrested in Fayette County.
On June 10, Ross was booked into the county jail on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession. In that case, Ross and a passenger were pulled over because the windows of the Bentley in which they were riding violated tinting regulations, Stevens, the sheriff's spokesman, said at the time. The officer smelled marijuana and found some inside the car, Stevens said.
