Rapper DMX held on animal cruelty, drug charges - CNN.com
CNN) -- Rapper DMX was arrested Friday on drug and animal cruelty charges after attempting to barricade himself inside his Arizona home, sheriff's deputies said.
Friday morning's arrest was rapper DMX's second brush with the law this week, authorities said.
DMX, 37, whose real name is Earl Simmons, faces seven misdemeanor animal cruelty charges and four felony drug possession charges, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
He was apprehended at his home in Cave Creek, Arizona. A news release from the office also said deputies were serving a search warrant at the Mayo Clinic in nearby Scottsdale, Arizona, involving possible fraud charges involving the rapper.
According to sheriff's deputies, five pit bull mix puppies were taken from the rapper's home by an animal control unit and will be taken to to a jail where they will be cared for by female inmates.
In August, deputies raided DMX's home and seized 12 pit bulls and pit bull mixes after receiving a report that the animals were being abused. No arrests were made at the time; authorities said that some of the dogs had apparently not been fed or watered but that there was no evidence of dogfighting.
The carcasses of three dogs were found partially buried on the property in August, and one of the dogs may have been burned, the sheriff's office said.
"A guy like this DMX character, with all his money and fame, has no excuse for not providing proper care for his animals," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Friday.