Rick Ross was arrested in Miami Beach early Thursday on battery charges listed as domestic violence-related, including one felony count of battery by strangulation. Ross’s arrest comes days after Jazzma Kendrick accused him of physical assault and shared a photo of an injured lip she said he caused. Ross’s attorney says the allegations against his client are false.
CBS News Miami reported that Ross, whose legal name is William Leonard Roberts, was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center at 6:10 a.m. on Oct. 1. Court and jail records list one felony count of battery by strangulation and one misdemeanor battery count, with both charges marked as involving domestic violence.
Ross’s attorney, Bradley Horenstein, told CBS that Ross is innocent and urged the public not to rush to judgment while the case moves through the legal process. Ross has pleaded not guilty to both charges, according to court records cited by TMZ.
TMZ, citing law enforcement sources, later reported that an ex-girlfriend contacted police Tuesday and described an alleged Aug. 28 incident at a home the two shared. She told police Ross woke her during an argument over a social media photo, slapped her, struck her in the chest, choked her until she could not breathe, pulled her by the hair and slammed her against a wall. TMZ said she provided police with photos of alleged injuries. Ross voluntarily surrendered Thursday morning and did not speak to police about the accusations.
Public reporting has not definitively established that the ex-girlfriend described in the arrest case is Kendrick. She separately alleged in late September that Ross injured her lip about a month earlier and said she left the relationship after the incident.
At a Thursday bond hearing, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer said she had reviewed the arrest report and found probable cause. She set bond at $4,000 on the strangulation charge and $1,000 on the misdemeanor count, for a total of $5,000. Glazer also ordered Ross to stay away from the alleged victim and surrender any firearms or concealed weapons. His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 22.
