Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Rapper Mystikal Charged With Sexual Assault, False Imprisonment
Mystikal, whose legal name is Michael Tyler, was previously convicted of sexual battery in 2003 after an attack on a hairdresser and served six years.
Rapper Mystikal has been charged with sexual assault again.
The 51-year-old artist, whose given name is Michael Tyler, was arrested on Sunday and charged with first-degree rape, simple robbery, domestic abuse battery - strangulation, false imprisonment and simple criminal damage to property, according to a news release from the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office in Louisiana.
The arrest stems from an incident on Saturday night, after which “deputies with the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to an area hospital in reference to a sexual assault,” according to the press release. They noted that the victim “sustained minor injuries during the attack.”
The investigation is being described as “ongoing” by the department.
“We expect he will be released later in the week,” the rapper’s attorney, Roy Maughan, told People in a statement on Monday. “Once he is we will begin our investigation of the allegations. There has been little opportunity to discuss them in detail thus far.”
Tyler was later hit with additional drug charges after a search of his home.
The rapper was refused bail after a hearing on Tuesday, according to the New Orleans Advocate, with the judge citing "the seriousness of the case, the weight of evidence against Tyler, his past criminal history, and the victim’s stated fears that she might be attacked again."
During the bail hearing, Ascension Parish Sheriff's Detective Garrett Keith provided more details about the alleged attack, according to the Associated Press, testifying that the unnamed woman said she had gone to the rapper's home at around 8:00 p.m. on Saturday to discuss money she thought they'd agreed he owed her.
The discussion was calm but, when she returned from a visit to the bathroom, she allegedly told the police that Mystikal accused her of stealing, choked her and pulled out her hair. He then allegedly apologized, forced her to pray with him, threw rubbing alcohol on her to rid her of "bad spirits" and then raped her.
The woman at the hospital had cuts, bruises and injuries consistent with rape, Keith testified. Police say they found some of her braids, a broken nail and her missing earring during the search of the rapper's home.
Maughan did not immediately respond to Oxygen.com’s request for comment.
This incident is the third time that the New Orleans-based artist has been charged with sexual assault, though he's only been convicted once.
He pleaded guilty in 2003 to sexual battery and served six years in prison as a result, according to ABC News. The “Shake (it Fast)” singer was initially charged with aggravated rape and extortion after allegedly forcing his hairstylist into sex acts with him and two bodyguards, MTV reported in 2002. The incident was videotaped.
He was released in 2010 and became registered as a sex offender in Louisiana, Reuters reported. He served three more months in jail after an alleged domestic abuse incident in 2012 violated his probation, KVUE reports.
In 2017, he was indicted on rape and kidnapping charges based on an incident that occurred during his 2016 tour. He spent 18 months incarcerated before receiving bond in February 2019. Those charges were eventually dropped after prosecutors presented "additional information" to a second grand jury, which failed to indict him, the Associated Press reports. He claims his encounter with the woman in that case was consensual.
