After rapping about danger, Mystikal needs to watch himself! Over the weekend, the New Orleans Grammy-nominated rapper was arrested on charges of rape, assault, and false imprisonment.
Born Michael Lawrence Tyler, the 52-year-old is being held without bond in jail and is scheduled for a bond hearing this afternoon.
According to arrest records, this time Tyler is being charged with two misdemeanors and three felonies, which include domestic abuse battery via strangulation, first-degree rape, and simple robbery.
Tyler was arrested late Saturday night in Baton Rouge after officers had previously “responded to an area hospital in reference to a sexual assault.” When the detectives were able to interview the victim, they ascertained that she had “sustained minor injuries during the attack,” and Tyler was named as a suspect per Sheriff Bobby Webre’s press release.
The arrest warrant described the assault—stating that an acquaintance of Tyler was visiting him at his Prairieville home. Allegedly, Tyler accused her “stealing $100 cash from him before punching her, choking her, pulling braids out of her hair and taking her keys and phone to prevent her from leaving,” a local news affiliate reported.
Then, the victim started to frantically search for the missing cash in an attempt to calm Tyler. During her search of the premises, she told the police that she happened upon a substance that was crystalline in nature, which deputies suspect was meth. She also told deputies that Tyler was vacillating between extreme moods, going from harshly rebuking her one moment to “very apologetic” and requesting that she join him in prayer.
“It’s at that point Tyler reportedly asked the woman if he could ‘feel’ her. When she refused, the victim was pushed onto a bed and forcibly raped. After the assault, the report said Tyler again demanded the victim ‘return’ the missing $100 through CashApp and gave the woman her phone so she could pay him. While she was setting up the payment, Tyler allegedly took the phone back, entered the amount of $150 and sent the payment to himself. After that, he gave the phone back and the woman was finally allowed to leave,” as reported by ABC.
When the victim was driving away, she phoned a friend to meet at the hospital, where a sexual assault kit was performed, and police were alerted.
Authorities then searched Tyler’s home, where they found drugs, and Tyler is also going to be booked with more charges stemming from possessing marijuana, meth, heroin, Xanax, and drug paraphernalia.
Donovan Jackson of the Ascension Parish Sherriff’s Office says that Tyler will not be treated differently because of his fame, stating “He didn’t show the victim any sympathy, and he won’t get any sympathy or special treatment…He will be in general population and incarcerated like anyone else.”
This isn’t the first accusation of its kind that Tyler has faced. In 2003, he pled guilty to sexual battery, and served 6 years in prison. Then, in 2017 he was charged with rape again, but was able to evade the system posting a $3 million bond, before the charges were ultimately dropped due to a lack of evidence.
