MYSTIKAL GETS HIT WITH MORE JAIL TIME

By: Yves Erwin Salomon

Incarcerated rapper Mystikal was sentenced to a year behind bars and ordered to pay $271,000 in back taxes plus penalties by a federal judge on Thursday (January 12th). The rapper pled guilty in August to two misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns for 1998 and 1999, when his gross income was $824,915 and $930,953, respectively. The Miami Herald reports that U.S. District Judge James Brady will allow the rapper to serve his sentence concurrently with his current state sentence for sexually assaulting his former hairstylist.

Mystikal, who has been incarcerated since January 2004, and his two bodyguards pled guilty in June 2003 to extortion and sexual battery charges, stemming from an incident in 2002 where he forced his hairstylist to perform sex acts on him and his bodyguards after learning that she had allegedly cashed several unauthorized checks totaling $80,000 from his bank account. Mystikal, who videotaped the sex acts, was originally facing aggravated rape charges, but agreed to a plea deal for the lesser two offenses.

The rapper might be eligible for parole as early as this month. He will have to register as a sex offender upon his release and will be on probation for the next five years.