Rapper Mystikal Arrested In Louisiana & Charged With Rape, Robbery, And False Imprisonment

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

Rapper Mystikal has been arrested on charges of rape and false imprisonment in Louisiana.

The musical artist, whose real name is Michael Lawrence Tyler, was arrested in the city of Prairieville on Sunday. The small town in Ascension Parish is halfway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Per WBRZ, the 52-year-old was charged with first-degree rape, simple robbery, domestic abuse battery, false imprisonment, and simple criminal damage to property. It is not clear what specific allegations led to these charges being filed against him.

According to AllHipHop, Tyler’s arrest record noted the crimes were allegedly committed at 9:21 a.m. local time on Sunday morning. He was booked into the parish jail three hours later. The news outlet explained no bond has been posted for the rapper as of Monday morning, indicating he is still being held in jail in Prairieville.

During his career, Mystikal released five studio albums. Three of those sold well enough to be certified platinum: Unpredictable in 1997, Ghetto Fabulous in 1998, and Let’s Get Ready in 2000. He has not released an album since 2001, though, and has only rarely released singles since then.

In the time since his musical success, Tyler has had an unsettling history of legal problems. In 2003, he was arrested and charged with sexual battery for allegedly sexually assaulting a hairstylist. He pled guilty in that case in 2004 and eventually served six years in prison for the charge.

In 2017, he was accused on allegations of first-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping after an incident at a casino in the Shreveport area. The rapper was accused of rape following a performance in the northwestern Louisiana city when a woman accused him of attacking her at a party. He spent more than a year and a half in prison amid legal maneuvering in that case. He was eventually able to raise a $3 million bond, per WBRZ, and was released awaiting trial.

In 2020, prosecutors in Shreveport declined to go forward with the charges in that case. Several years later they closed the investigation after the District Attorney declined to indict Tyler. According to AllHipHop, Britney Green, a prosecutor for the DA’s office, told reporters about the office’s decision not to pursue the charges:

“We never want to be a part of any process that has an innocent person tied up in the criminal justice process. I just want to say that there is a distinction between not guilty and innocent, and that also because the case is dismissed or a case is resolved in a fashion other than at trial, that it doesn’t necessarily mean that an incident did not happen.”

Now, it appears the rapper is once again the focus of a serious investigation. Here is more on the latest arrest from NBC Local 33/Fox 44: