Rapper-actor DMX faces drug, weapon charges

The Associated Press

Prosecutors filed drug and weapons charges Friday against rapper DMX, a day after he was arrested for allegedly impersonating a federal agent and trying to steal a car from an airport parking lot.

Rapper-actor DMX was arrested on charges that he and an accomplice tried to steal a parked car in a lot at JFK Airport. By Jennifer Graylock, AP

DMX, 33, allegedly crashed his sport-utility vehicle through a parking lot gate at Kennedy Airport after telling the attendant to let him leave because he was a government agent.

The complaint also said that the rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, ordered a driver at an adjacent parking lot to get out of his vehicle. When the man refused, Simmons allegedly identified himself as an FBI agent, grabbed the driver's seat belt buckle, and tried to pull him from the vehicle.

Simmons, 33, and a friend, Jackie Hudgins, 41, were arrested shortly afterward, said prosecutor Richard Brown.

Police found a billy club and rocks of crack cocaine in the vehicle, Brown said.

Both men were charged with criminal possession of a weapon and controlled substance. Simmons is also charged with criminal mischief, impersonation, menacing, driving under the influence and other offenses.

The men, who remained jailed Friday, face up to seven years in prison if convicted.

A message left for Simmons' lawyer was not immediately returned. It was not immediately clear if Hudgins had hired a lawyer.

In 1999, DMX was fined and ordered to make public service announcements for the Humane Society after police found pipes for smoking crack cocaine, a pistol and 13 pit bulls at his home in Teaneck, N.J. He pleaded guilty to animal cruelty, disorderly conduct and possession of drug paraphernalia in that case.

DMX has produced several rap albums and has acted in films including Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds and Cradle 2 The Grave.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.