Rapper Nelly arrested for possession of ecstasy
Rapper Nelly was arrested for possession of ecstasy at a casino in Missouri on Wednesday morning.
The three-time Grammy award winner, 49, was taken into custody at about 4.45am local time and was cited for having four ecstasy tablets and no car insurance.
Nelly, whose real name is Cornell Iral Haynes Jr, was arrested inside the Hollywood Casino in St Charles, Missouri, after an identification-verification check when the drugs were allegedly found on him.
Maryland Heights police said, “We arrested him for failure to appear on an old traffic charge.”
Lawyers for Nelly, best known for his 2002 hit Hot in Herre, which peaked at number four in the British charts, denied the drug charge.
‘100 per cent confident case will go nowhere’
“Mr Haynes was not charged with drug possession. He was arrested for no proof of insurance from 2018 on a warrant issued December 2023 that he received no notice. Mr. Haynes was targeted by an overzealous, out of line officer,” lawyer Scott Rosenblum told US Weekly.
“After winning several jackpots, at a venue where Mr. Haynes frequently visits and entertains at its amphitheatre; instead of just supervising the transfer of Mr. Haynes’ winnings, this officer felt compelled to needlessly run a check for warrants.”
“I am 100 per cent confident this case will go nowhere. And we will be asking for an inquiry into this officer’s conduct,’ Mr Rosenblum added.
US media have obtained a mugshot of Nelly, whose singer wife Ashanti is expecting a baby. He secretly married the star, 43, last year. The rapper was released on Wednesday.
It is not Nelly’s first brush with the law. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour possession of marijuana in 2015.
Tennessee Highway Patrol stopped Nelly’s tour bus because of non-conforming department of transportation stickers. A state trooper smelled marijuana and searched the bus.
