DMX Gets 90 Days For Animal Cruelty
Originally published by www.kpho.com, January 30, 2009PHOENIX -- Rapper DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, has been sentenced to 90 days in jail and 18 months of supervised probation on animal cruelty and drug charges.
A Maricopa County court commissioner also ordered Simmons to pay fines and do 360 hours of community service.
Simmons told the judge Friday that he made mistakes and that he's willing to pay for them.
Simmons pleaded guilty in December to one felony count of theft, one count each of felony possession of marijuana and a narcotic drug and a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty.
He will be released on April 30. There is a chance at that time he could go back to Florida where his wife and children are living and serve out his probation there.
The remains of three dogs were dug up on Aug. 24, 2007, when sheriff's investigators probing allegations of animal neglect raided the rapper's home.
Authorities also seized 12 live pit bulls, seized numerous weapons, and found about a quarter-ounce of marijuana in a bedroom
"Someone's going to have to pay for this," Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said at the time. "We have 12 dogs who were abused and three dogs buried in the yard -- someone's going to have to pay."
The 12 seized dogs were transported to a sheriff's facility converted from a jail into an animal shelter.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office M.A.S.H. unit is a no-kill animal shelter created to house and care for animals that have been abused or neglected by their caretakers and rescued by the Animal Cruelty Investigative Unit.
Sheriff's investigators were tipped to possible animal neglect, and questioned a man at the home who said he was being paid to care for the dogs, but planned to go on vacation and didn't know who would replace him. No one was home when police raided the home days later.
The man told CBS 5 News the dogs did not have adequate food, water or shade. He also said the dogs had not been used for fighting.
The 36-year-old rapper has had previous run-ins with the law. In June 2006, Scottsdale police cited him for carrying a concealed handgun outside a nightclub.
He also served 70 days in jail in 2005 for violating his parole following a 2004 incident in which he posed as an undercover federal agent and crashed his sport utility vehicle through a security gate at Kennedy International Airport.
Simmons was also fined and ordered to make public service announcements for the Humane Society after police found pipes for smoking crack cocaine, a pistol and 13 pit bulls at his home in Teaneck, N.J. in 1999. He pleaded guilty to animal cruelty, disorderly conduct and possession of drug paraphernalia in that case.
DMX recorded the 1999 hit single "Party Up (Up in Here)." His last album, "Year of the Dog ... Again," was released last year.
© Copyright 2009 KPHO; Phoenix, AZ. (A Meredith Corporation Station)
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