A SWAT team raided singer Sean Kingston’s rented Florida mansion and arrested his mother for fraud and theft related to the installation of a gigantic television.
Detectives on Thursday detained his mother, Janice Turner, 61, at the property in a Fort Lauderdale suburb popular with celebrities and professional athletes, including Dwayne Johnson and Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill.
Kingston was thought to be out of town and was not present during the raid. Photo: AP
The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing and declined to release specific details about the charges against Turner or whether his 34-year-old son is also wanted.
Local media reported that Kingston was out of town and was not present during the raid, in which authorities removed the items and loaded them into a van.
The Jamaican-American artist is best known for his 2007 single Beautiful Girls, Fire Burning and his collaboration with Justin Bieber in Eenie Meenie.
Federal court records show his mother pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing more than $160,000 (£126,088) and served almost a year and a half in prison.
The sheriff’s office says the investigation is ongoing. Photo: AP
Kingston wrote in an Instagram post on Thursday, which has since been deleted: “People love negative energy!
“I’m fine, and so is my mother!… My lawyers are taking care of everything as we speak.”
Robert Rosenblatt, an attorney representing the rapper and his mother, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel: “These are good people and I would be surprised if the allegations were true.”
Florida Department of Corrections records show Kingston is on two years’ probation for trafficking in stolen property.
The items were removed from the property by the authorities. Photo: AP
‘Promise of commercials with Justin Bieber’
Attorney Dennis Card, who was present at the arrest, said it is related in part to a lawsuit he filed against Kingston in February, accusing him of defrauding a Florida company that installed a 232-inch television.
In the case, Ver Ver Entertainment says Kingston contacted the company in September to purchase the television, sold under the Colossal TV brand, and install it in its home. The system costs $150,000 (£118,000).
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Kingston allegedly told the owners that if they agreed to a lower down payment and gave him credit, he and Bieber would do commercials for them.
In November, Kingston paid the company $30,000 (£23,631) and the TV was installed, according to the lawsuit, but no additional advertisements or payments were made.
Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey. Photo: Reuters
“He’s not 100% in on this,” Card said of Bieber.
“He had the misfortune of working with Sean in the past, and Sean mentions his name like crazy.”
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, hasn’t had a major record release in more than a decade.
In 2011, he suffered life-threatening injuries in a jet ski accident.
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