Update: Released From Custody Thursday Afternoon
Rick Ross walked out of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Thursday afternoon, hours after turning himself in to Miami Beach police on felony battery-by-strangulation and misdemeanor battery charges. At a Thursday morning bond hearing, his attorney asked the court to expedite Ross's release over safety concerns tied to his celebrity — Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer w and XXL.
After his release, Ross broke his silence on Instagram Story: 'First and foremost, I am totally innocent of the fabricated allegations made against myself,' adding he's 'totally confident that these fabricated allegations will be laid to rest,' per Baller Alert and XXL. He told fans he's off to Dubai Friday and Paris Saturday before returning to Miami — where a plate of rigatoni with heavy marinara is waiting, a line he tied to a just-released video from his new album Set in Stone, per Baller Alert. A judge wasn't moved, telling him she had 'no idea who you are' and that he'd be 'treated fairly just like everybody else here,' according to The Sun, Rick Ross turned himself in to the Miami Beach Police Department around 5 a.m. Thursday and was booked at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 6:10 a.m., according to jail records and reporting by USA Today, Page Six, and CNN. The 50-year-old rapper — born William Leonard Roberts II — faces one count of third-degree felony battery by strangulation and one count of first-degree misdemeanor battery, both characterized as involving domestic violence. Jail records list bond at $6,000 — $5,000 on the felony count and $1,000 on the misdemeanor — per Consequence and Houston Style Magazine. He is scheduled to be arraigned October 22.
The Accusation
The arrest follows allegations from Ross's ex-girlfriend, model and content creator Jazzma Kendrick, 39. On September 26, Kendrick posted photos to her Instagram Stories appearing to show an injured lip, writing, "The day Rick busted my lip and the day I left." Page Six reports the arrest affidavit identifies Kendrick as Ross's now-ex "JK," who told police she had been dating Ross and living with him at his Star Island home for roughly a year. Per the affidavit, the alleged assault happened the morning of August 28, and Kendrick filed the police report September 29.
The Response
Ross's defense attorney Steve Sadow said in a statement that Ross "is being wrongfully accused by an ex-girlfriend whose true motivations are unclear," noting she did not file a police report until a month after the claimed incident. "Mr. Roberts is innocent and has pled not guilty to the charges," the statement read. Court records show defense attorney Bradley Horenstein filed a written not-guilty plea, and a stay-away order was entered as a pretrial condition barring contact with Kendrick — including via social media, per The FADER.
The Stakes
This is not Ross's first serious legal fight. In 2015, he and a bodyguard were arrested in Georgia on kidnapping and assault charges; in 2017, Ross pleaded no contest to a felony count of aggravated assault and five misdemeanors and was sentenced to 60 months' probation and a $10,000 fine, per USA Today.
Since he was a first-time felony offender, that conviction was eventually erased from his record. The Maybach Music Group founder — "Hustlin'," "Aston Martin Music" — now faces a criminal case with his arraignment three weeks out. This story is developing. Filed under The Wire, MixShow Prime's music industry news desk.
