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LOS ANGELES - Rapper Snoop Dogg surrendered to police in California on Monday to face charges of possessing a deadly weapon - a baton he tried to carry on an airplane - but posted US$150,000 bond and was released.
The 35-year-old entertainer arrived with his lawyer and a bail bondsman at the Orange County jail in Santa Ana, where he was booked under his real name, Calvin Broadus.
"He turned himself in this morning," county sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said. "He was booked, fingerprinted, had his photo taken and an arrest report was filled out."
An arrest warrant was issued for Broadus, who as Snoop Dogg has become one of the most recognizable names in pop music, last week after he was charged with possession of a deadly weapon stemming from a September 27 incident at Orange County John Wayne Airport.
The Grammy-nominated entertainer was trying to catch a flight with two bodyguards when airport security spotted a long metal object in his laptop computer case. The officers then discovered a 20-inch collapsible baton inside, prosecutors said.
Though possession of the baton could have been filed as a lesser misdemeanor charge, Broadus was charged with a felony based on his criminal record, prosecutors said. Broadus has said the baton was a prop for a video he was to make and was unaware it was illegal to take it on a plane.
The rap star had been notified in advance of his surrender that he could make arrangements with authorities, but Amormino said the performer surprised deputies when he showed up at the jail unannounced. He was processed immediately and released.
Broadus was arrested in a separate incident in October at the Burbank airport, near Los Angeles, after police said they found a gun and marijuana in his car. He was booked and released on US$35,000 bail pending a hearing on December 12.
Snoop Dogg, who has a previous conviction for cocaine possession, made his recording debut in the early 1990s as a gangsta-rap protege of Dr Dre. His 1993 debut album, Doggystyle, entered the charts at number one.
He has since become one of the best-known acts in rap and moved toward the mainstream, playing a drug dealer turned informant in the 2004 cop movie Starsky & Hutch.
- REUTERS
