Rapper Rick Ross arrested on kidnapping, assault charges

ATLANTA -- Rapper Rick Ross is facing kidnapping and assault charges after a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force and deputies arrested him at his mansion south of Atlanta early Wednesday, authorities said.

Ross and a man described as his bodyguard were taken into custody in Fayette County, Jim Joyner, a supervisor with the Marshals' Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, told The Associated Press.

Ross - whose real name is William Roberts - was being held in the Fayette County Jail on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated battery, Joyner said. The bodyguard, whose name wasn't released, faces the same charges.

Officers showed up at the mansion, once owned by boxer Evander Holyfield, but someone inside refused to open the gate leading to the home, authorities said.

"They refused to open the gate, so we opened the gate for them," Joyner said.

Once officers got past the gate, someone inside opened the front door so they didn't have to break it down, Joyner said. Ross and the bodyguard were then taken into custody without incident, Joyner said.

"They didn't put up a struggle or anything," he said.

Joyner said details of the charges would have to come from Fayette County authorities, who weren't immediately available Wednesday morning.

It wasn't known whether Ross has an attorney who could be contacted for comment on the case. A message left at Maybach Music Group, Ross' record label, was not immediately returned Wednesday morning.

It was second time in the past two weeks Ross has been arrested in Fayette County. On June 10, Ross was booked into the county jail on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession.

In that case, Ross and a passenger were pulled over because the windows of the Bentley in which they were riding violated tinting regulations, Fayette County sheriff's spokesman J. Allen Stevens said at the time. The officer smelled marijuana and found some inside the car, Stevens said.