Black Rob detained on fugitive warrant
Bad Boy Records rapper Black Rob is in police custody after being picked up on a fugitive warrant February 24 in New Jersey.
The troubled MC (born Robert Ross) was due to turn himself in January 24 to serve time for a burglary charge from 2004 but never showed up. He was MIA until members of a federal task force caught him at an undisclosed location last week, according to a spokesperson for the rapper.
Rob was originally arrested at New York’s On the Ave Hotel in November 2004 after a hotel security camera tape showed him leaving a female guest’s room with her pocketbook (see “Rapper Black Rob Arrested For Burglary”). He was booked for burglary and criminal possession of stolen property.
According to the spokesperson, Rob pleaded guilty on November 15 to criminal possession of stolen property, a felony, and was sentenced to two to six years in prison. He remained free on bail but did not show up as arranged on January 24, at which time a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. The rapper was not heard from until he was picked up by authorities.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said there is no information on where Rob was found but confirmed that he was picked up by federal marshals. Spokesperson Edison Alban said at this point the DA’s office isn’t even sure where Rob is. “He’s under the custody of the federal task force, and it seems as if he’s in New Jersey, but we can’t confirm what happened to him after the 24th,” Alban said. “We’re still trying to get more information.”
Rob has to return to New York to be jailed on the original charge and could face an indeterminate amount of additional time and charges for jumping bail, according to Alban.
It wasn’t Rob’s first tangle with the law. In May 2000 he was arrested on gun-possession and drug charges when he pulled over his car to sign autographs for fans and was seen passing a 22-caliber handgun to his passenger (see “Black Rob Arrested On Weapon, Drug Charges”). In September 2004 he completed a six-month prison term for failure to pay child support. He has also been sidelined in recent years by a kidney ailment.
Rob released his second album, The Black Rob Report, in 2005.
