Webbie Arrested: Kicked Woman Down Stairs, Stole $340 From Purse
Rapper Webbie was arrested for alleged battery and robbery after he reportedly attacked a women he had met the night before.
He's accused of kicking the woman down two flights of stairs and stealing $340 from her purse in the Chase Suite Hotel in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Webbie, or Webster Gradney, Jr. as he's known on his birth certificate, was allegedly banned from the hotel, according to TMZ. If that's true, it could mean even more legal trouble for the Trill Entertainment rapper.
But reps for the rapper, best known for his hit "Independent," tell a different story.
Webbie agrees that the two met at a party, but that's where the stories split.
He says he never hit her and didn't steal from her either, reports TMZ. All he did was take her money.
It's not stealing, his reps say, because it was his money in the first place.
Assuming Webbie's claims are true, it may still not get him out of legal hot water. Theft is wrong but taking back your stolen property isn't lawful either.
When property is stolen, the victim must go through legal channels to get it back. That means reporting it to the police and letting them handle the issue. Taking your property back by force is not legal and could be considered battery or even theft itself.
In such a scenario, prosecutors are unlikely to press charges but that doesn't mean you won't get in trouble for stealing back your stolen property.
Webbie has been charged with robbery because he allegedly took the money out of the woman's purse, which presumes it was on her person. Robbery is a more serious crime than simple theft because it involves the element of force.
That element of force is what could get Webbie in trouble even if the money was his all along.
It hasn't been a good year for Trill Entertainment's list of performers -- this incident just adds to that. Another Trill rapper, Lil Boosie, was sentenced to eight years in prison in late 2011. A third member of the label, Lil Phat, was killed in June of this year.
But Webbie doesn't seem too worried about the case. The Baton Rouge-based rapper was released on bond the same day he was arrested and is planning to fight the charges, reports The Inquisitr.
Related Resources:
- Webbie Arrested For Kicking A Woman Down A Flight Of Stairs, Stealing $340 Out Her Purse (Hip Hop Wired)
- Lil Phat Dead: Trill Entertainment Rapper, 19, Killed in Atlanta Shooting (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)
- Lil Boosie Smuggled 'Sizzurp' into Prison: What is Sizzurp? (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)
