Rapper Mystikal arrested in Ascension Parish on first-degree rape count, sheriff says

Aug. 1—Rapper Mystikal, who has faced sexual assault charges in the past, was arrested Sunday on first-degree rape, felony domestic abuse by strangulation and other counts in Ascension Parish.

Online jail booking records in the Baton Rouge-area parish show Michael Tyler, 51, of Prairieville was booked into Ascension Parish Prison Sunday afternoon.

A parish sheriff's spokesman confirmed Tyler is the rapper Mystikal, a New Orleans native who is best known for his 2000 hit single "Shake Ya Ass."

Mystikal served a six-year term for sexual battery and extortion in state prison and was released in 2010.

Tyler pleaded guilty in 2003 to forcing his hairstylist to perform what a judge called "continuous sex acts." The victim in that case accused Tyler and two bodyguards of making her perform oral sex after accusing her of stealing $80,000 worth of his checks.

The woman denied stealing any money.

One bodyguard, Leland "Pokie" Ellis, received three years in prison. The other, Vercy Carter, got four years.

After his release, a judge had ordered in back in jail for three months after his arrest in 2012 on a misdemeanor domestic abuse count in Ascension because Tyler violated his five-year probation from the extortion case.

At the time, Tyler's attorney described an "unfortunate incident" between two domestic partners "who have cared about each other for 10 years."

In later years, he also pleaded guilty to two federal misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns on a total of $1.7 million he earned in 1998 and 1999.

Tyler rose to national fame in the 1990s. His 2000 album "Let's Get Ready" sold more than one million copies on the strength of the hit "Shake Ya Ass." He was nominated for two Grammy awards in early 2003. But his career was derailed soon after.

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