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*DMX is back in a prison cell after leaving a court-ordered rehabilitation facility, testing positive for cocaine, opiates and Oxycodone, and being considered a flight risk.
The rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was placed in handcuffs in Manhattan Federal Court on Monday following a brief hearing before Judge Jed Rakoff.
The judge said he had tried to accommodate DMX’s tour schedule, but that the rapper had still failed a drug test, left a treatment program and failed to travel with a drug counselor as he’d pledged to do.
“He in effect said, ‘Judge, trust me.’ I will have a drug counselor,” Rakoff said. “That was a great big lie … He said, in effect, ‘screw you.'”
Defense lawyer Murray Richman says Simmons took drugs to cope with the hospitalization of his year-old child for several days this month. She had a 104-degree fever. Richman says Simmons left a drug rehabilitation center in the Northeast to see his child in New York City.
After prosecutors requested he be jailed, Rakoff agreed and sent the rapper to prison Tuesday to await his March 28 sentencing on a tax evasion charge, meaning at least three upcoming tour dates will be canceled.
According to the New York Daily News, DMX took two puffs of an asthma inhaler, removed his shoelaces and emptied his pockets of a wad of cash and other papers. Then U.S. Marshals took him into custody sporting a white t-shirt with a smiley face and peace sign.
Via NY Daily News:
DMX pleaded guilty in November to $1.7 million tax fraud, which carries a maximum of five years in prison. As part of his case, he was ordered to attend the drug treatment program. But around Jan. 16 the rapper left the program to tend to his 1-year-old boy who had become extremely sick, DMX’s attorney, Richman told the judge. During that period DMX relapsed, pretrial services officer Leo Barrios said.
DMX had also pledged to travel on tour with a drug counselor, but that had not happened, Barrios added.
The rapper has frequently arrived late to appearances before Rakoff, as was the case on Tuesday. He was scheduled to appear at 11:15 a.m., but Rakoff rescheduled the hearing to 12:45 p.m. due to DMX’s tardiness. Richman said his client was somewhere on the West Side Highway.
“I’d like to tell you I have total control of his movements, I don’t,” Richman told the judge.
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