Atlanta Journal Constitution a écrit:T.I. not yet back in Atlanta to explain drug arrestGrammy award-winning rapper T.I. is expected to return to Atlanta soon to face a federal judge who agreed to an unusual sentence after he pleaded guilty to gun charges.![Image](http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00660/ti-mug-090210_660995l.jpg)
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office Rapper T.I., aka Clifford Harris, was arrested Wednesday night in Los Angeles on drug charges.
![Image](http://www.ajc.com/multimedia/dynamic/00660/Tameka-Cottle-mug09_660996l.jpg)
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office Tameka "Tiny" Cottle was arrested Wednesday night in Los Angeles on drug charges.
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., was arrested Wednesday night in Los Angeles for suspicion of possession of methamphetamine. He was on probation, which includes a condition of not being charged with any other crimes.
T.I., 29, reportedly contacted his federal probation officer immediately after he was arrested in West Hollywood. A deputy reported he pulled over the rapper's luxury car, a Maybach, after it made an illegal U-turn. T.I. and his wife, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, were arrested around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and they were released from jail at about 4 a.m. Thursday after posting $10,000 bail each.
T.I.'s probation officer has told him to return to Atlanta.
One of T.I.’s lawyers, Ed Garland, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday he expected his client to be back in the city within 24 hours.
No hearing has yet been scheduled with U.S. District Judge Charles Pannell, according to his office.
T.I. pleaded guilty to gun charges that were brought after he had gone to a Midtown parking lot to buy machine guns, ammunition and silencers. His contact was an undercover federal agent. The crime could have brought him years in prison.
But his plea deal let him spend a year on probation before beginning his prison sentence of a year and a day. In that year he was to perform 1,000 hours of community service telling kids and fans across the country not to emulate his old lifestyle of drugs, guns, gangs and violence. It was during that year of probation that he produced and starred in an MTV series "T.I.'s Road to Redemption," in which he would give troubled teens a dose of reality.
If he did not complete that portion of his punishment, T.I. could have been sentenced to up to six years in a federal prison instead of a year and a day that was part of the deal.
T.I. spent seven months in a federal prison in Arkansas and then the remaining three months in a halfway house, a transition almost all federal prisoners complete before release. When he was freed last March, T.I. resumed his probation, which included 500 hours more of community service.
During T.I.'s March 2007 sentencing hearing, the rapper told Pannell he was sorry for what had happened and vowed to become a changed man, and he had an endorsement from Andrew Young -- the former U.N. ambassador, Atlanta mayor and civil rights leader.
Young told Pannell he wholeheartedly endorsed the unusual punishment. Young, who officiated the recent wedding between T.I. and Cottle in July , said he and the rapper had forged a close relationship. Young said T.I.'s anti-drug and anti-violence message had reached legions of fans.
Pannell said in the sentencing hearing he thought the "experiment" had turned out well. But he also told T.I. if he had legal trouble during his time out on community service, "I would have simply sent you to prison."
The question now will be whether Pannell will do that if T.I. is found to have violated his probation.
The terms of T.I.'s probation say he cannot possess or use any narcotic or controlled substance or frequent places where drugs are "illegally sold, used, distributed or administered." He also cannot associate with anyone engaged in criminal activity, the terms of his sentence dictate.