A SWAT team raided rapper Sean Kingston’s rented South Florida mansion on Thursday (May 23) and arrested his mother on fraud and theft charges that an attorney says stem partly from the installation of a massive TV at the home.
Broward County detectives arrested Janice Turner, 61, at the 14,000-sq ft (1,300-sqm) home in Southwest Ranches, a well-off Fort Lauderdale suburb that is home to many celebrities and professional athletes, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing and declined to release specific details about the charges against Turner or whether her 34-year-old son is also a target. Local media reported that Kingston is out of town and was not present during the raid. Broward County prosecutors referred all questions to the sheriff’s office.
It could not be determined if Turner has an attorney who could comment. Federal court records show she pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing over US$160,000 and served 16 months in prison.
“People love negative energy!” Kingston posted on Instagram on Thursday. “I am good, and so is my mother! … My lawyers are handling everything as we speak.” The post was later taken down.
Florida Department of Corrections records show he is currently on two years probation for trafficking stolen property. Reporters at the home could see authorities filling a loading van with goods. The mansion was surrounded by expensive sports cars.
The Jamaican-American rapper is best known for his 2007 No 1 single Beautiful Girls, his collaboration with Justin Bieber on Eenie Meenie and Take You There. In 2011, he suffered near-fatal injuries in a jet ski accident. Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, hasn’t had a major label release in more than a decade.
An attorney who witnessed the arrest says it is partly related to a lawsuit he filed against Kingston in February accusing him of defrauding a Florida company that installed a 232-inch television.
“It is amazing what you can get away with if you are a celebrity,” attorney Dennis Card told The Associated Press. “He creates this larger than life, ‘I am rich’ persona. His mother is a necessary component in this. He presents himself as a family-oriented guy, ‘I’m taking care of my mom,’ but she knows full well what is going on.”
In the lawsuit, Ver Ver Entertainment says Kingston contacted the company in September about purchasing the television, sold under the brand name Colossal TV, and having it installed at his home. The system costs $150,000.
Kingston allegedly told the owners that if they would agree to a lower down payment and give him credit, he and Bieber would do commercials for them.
In November, Kingston paid the company $30,000 and the TV was installed, said the lawsuit. No commercials or further payments were ever made, despite numerous promises by Kingston, the lawsuit says.
The two most recent known publicists for Kingston did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The lawsuit says Kingston no longer has a working relationship with Bieber, who recently dropped his longtime manager. No current contact information for Bieber is available.
“He is 100 per cent not involved in this,” Card said of Bieber. “He had the misfortune of doing some work in the past with Sean and Sean drops his name like crazy.”