Was Mike Jones A Real Pimp? Rapper Supposedly Arrested On Human Trafficking Charges
Around 2004, a rapper came on the mainstream not because of his songs, but because he had a thing for constantly mentioning his name. He was known as Mike Jones and by the pinnacle of his career, he had become certified platinum with his two biggest hits, “Back Then” and “Still Tippin’,” from the album Who Is Mike Jones? By 2007, Mike Jones would lose most of his prominence but would still produce albums including The Voice in 2008 and Where Is Mike Jones? last year.
Apparently, Mike Jones wasn’t only producing songs and trying to score those big hits like back in his debut glory days. Reports supposedly claim that Mike Jones has been arrested on charges of human trafficking. But are these allegations true?
According to numerous articles reporting on the matter, including TMZ News Online (not associated with the popular celebrity news site) and News Star TV Sport, the San Antonio Police Department arrested Mike Jones on human trafficking charges after an ongoing four month investigation. They state the accused, being Mike Jones and a fellow friend, forced their victims to work as prostitutes from hotels and motels, collecting the earnings with each trick transaction. A total of 34 human trafficking charges are laid against both of them, which occurred from September to December of 2014.
San Antonio police inspector, Jonas Dresden, made a statement on how prostitution is a common way for criminals to earn money, claiming it to be more lucrative than trafficking guns or drugs. Dresden even made a statement on how brave victims of sex trafficking are for coming forwards to testify despite all the conditioning they’ve been put through.
“It takes a lot of courage for the victims to come forward. These pimps will groom them, they will build a relationship with them, they’ll try and build a trust with them. In most cases, they’ll try to make the victim believe that they’re in love with them. These victims are sometimes just looking for attention and affection and these pimps know exactly what these girls are looking for and they feed off of that.”
Mike Jones reportedly was held on a $100,000 bond and faces between five to 14 years of imprisonment. If the other charges were to come into play, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
However, the supposed news may be an object of satire being passed as fact. First, Mike Jones may no longer be as popular as he used to be, but he is still a recognizable rapper. So the fact that none of the mainstream news or entertainment sites have reported on this is very peculiar. As a matter of fact, the latest news on Mike Jones on any such site is with TMZ in their “Memba Them?!” article.
Despite the situation, the (satire) news of Mike Jones’ arrest gained traction mostly on social media, specifically Facebook. However if people really want to follow how Mike Jones is really doing, he does have an official Twitter and Instagram account.
[Post Image via Who Is Mike Jones? Album Cover, Post Image via TMZ News Online]
