New Orleans-born rapper Mystikal was arrested yesterday (July 31) in Prairieville, La., according to the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office. The artist, whose real name is Michael Tyler, was charged with first-degree rape, simple robbery, domestic abuse battery (strangulation, false imprisonment) and simple criminal damage to property.
According to Sheriff Bobby Webre, deputies responded to an area hospital at 11:58 pm on July 30, where they interviewed a sexual assault victim who sustained minor injuries during the attack. Mystikal was identified as a suspect following further investigation. The rapper was booked into the Ascension Parish Jail and is being held without bond.
The sheriff’s office wrote that this is still an ongoing investigation.
Mystikal has previously been arrested and charged with sexual assault. In 2017, he turned himself in to authorities and pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree rape and second-degree kidnapping. He ended up being indicted for the charges, but they were later dropped in 2020 for lack of evidence. He was also arrested in 2002 on charges of rape and extortion, and he pled not guilty to sexually assaulting his hairstylist. He spent six years in prison for sexual battery and extortion convictions, and had to register as a sex offender upon his release in 2010.
