The New Orleans rapper best known for his funkified big-booty anthem "Shake Ya Ass," was arrested and jailed with two other men Thursday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on charges they raped a woman and then threatened her with blackmail to keep her quiet.
Mystikal, born Michael Tyler, gave himself up to police early Thursday. His lawyers accompanied him to the station and booked on one count each of extortion and aggravated rape, police said.
He was transported to East Baton Rouge Parish Prison and was sprung hours later on $250,000 bond.
His two alleged accomplices, Baton Rouge natives Leland Ellis, 36, and Vercy Carter, 34, also turned themselves in Thursday morning and were booked on the same charges.
The attack allegedly took place on July 3, after the unidentified 40-year-old victim, who was friendly with the hip-hopster, turned up at his house about 8 p.m.
Police spokeswoman Corporal Mary Ann Godawa said the incident stemmed from an alleged "check-writing scam" that Mystikal accused the woman of being involved with.
Godawa says one of Mystikal's associates, who had access to the rapper's checks, had written checks to the woman out of Mystikal's account.
"Tyler called her to his apartment, where he confronted her about this and basically accused her of taking money that he did not authorize," Godawana says. "During the course of this whole confrontation, he threatened to hurt her and turn her over to the police...It was at that point that he began to rape her."
According to police, Mystikal repeatedly threatened to expose the victim's involvement in the alleged scam to police, then forced her to perform oral sex on him. He then called up Ellis and Carter and, when the two showed up, he allegedly raped her in front of the two men. Police say the rapper again forced the woman to perform oral sex on him, and then the three men each took turns raping her.
"During the attacks, the victim was repeatedly threatened with prosecution of the checks and great bodily harm. The victim was allowed to leave the residence after the attacks. She was treated and released at a local hospital," a police statement reads.
There was no comment from the rapper's attorneys and label, Jive Records.
The Dirty South rapper, a onetime protégé of Master P, hit it big as a solo emcee with the 1998 release Ghetto Fabulous, which debuted at number five on the charts just days after he was busted on pot and gun charges in his native Louisiana. Mystikal's follow-up CD, Let's Get Ready, debuted at number one in October 2000.
No word yet on when his arraignment will take place.