Sean Kingston at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards, in 2012. Photo / AP
Sean Kingston at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards, in 2012. Photo / AP
Rapper Sean Kingston was arrested in California on fraud charges, several hours after a SWAT team raided his rented South Florida mansion and carted away a van load of items.
The Broward County Sheriff’s Office said Kingston was arrested without incident on a Florida warrant in the area of Fort Irwin, an Army base in the desert, about 240 kilometres northeast of Los Angeles.
Earlier in the day, Broward detectives arrested his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, during the raid of the rapper’s 1,300-square metre home in Southwest Ranches, a well-off Fort Lauderdale suburb that is home to many celebrities and professional athletes, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill.
Broward County prosecutors referred all questions to the sheriff’s office, which has has declined to release specific details about charges, citing an ongoing investigation.
After the raid, reporters outside the home could see authorities filling a loading van with goods. The mansion was surrounded by expensive sports cars.
Robert Rosenblatt, an attorney representing the rapper and his mother, said; “we are aware of some of the allegations” being made against the two.
“We look forward to addressing these in court and are confident of a successful resolution for Shawn and his mother,” Rosenblatt said in an email.
Florida Department of Corrections records show Kingston is currently on two years’ probation for trafficking stolen property.
Further information on that conviction could not be found. He will be held in California pending extradition to Florida.
According to federal court records, his mother pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing over US$160,000 ($262,000) and served nearly 1.5 years in prison.
She was being held at the Broward jail on Thursday night on $160,000 bond.
The Jamaican-American rapper is best known for his 2007 No. 1 single Beautiful Girls; another hit, Take You There; and his collaboration with Justin Bieber on the song Eenie Meenie.
In 2011 he suffered near-fatal injuries in a personal watercraft accident.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, hasn’t had a major label release in more than a decade.
An attorney who witnessed Kingston’s mother’s arrest said the detentions are partly related to a lawsuit he filed against the rapper in February accusing him of defrauding a Florida company that installed in his home a 232-inch television — or approximately 5 metres by 3 metres.
“It is amazing what you can get away with if you are a celebrity,” attorney Dennis Card told The Associated Press.
“He creates this larger than life, ‘I am rich’ persona. His mother is a necessary component in this. He presents himself as a family-oriented guy, ‘I’m taking care of my mom,’ but she knows full well what is going on.”
In the lawsuit, Ver Ver Entertainment says Kingston contacted the company in September about purchasing the television, sold under the brand name Colossal TV, and having it installed. The system costs US$150,000 ($246,000).
Kingston allegedly told the owners that if they would agree to a lower down payment and give him credit, he and Bieber would do commercials for them.
In November, Kingston paid the company $30,000 ($49,000) and the TV was installed, the lawsuit says. No commercials or further payments were ever made despite numerous promises, it contends.
A U-Haul truck is seen leaving Sean Kingston’s Southwest Ranches, Florida, home. Photo / AP
According to the lawsuit, Kingston no longer has a working relationship with Bieber, who recently dropped his longtime manager.
