El DeBarge attends The “2021 Soul Train Awards” Presented By BET at World Famous Apollo on November 20, 2021, in New York City. | Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty
Five-time Grammy-nominated singer El DeBarge has once again found himself in trouble with law enforcement. According to TMZ, the singer was arrested on drugs and weapons charges in Burbank, California.
DeBarge was detailed at a local gas station on Sunday around 3:40 a.m. Police on the scene initially noticed DeBarge’s vehicle had expired tags but discovered an expandable metal baton in the car, considered an illegal weapon in California. Police then began to search the vehicle, where they found pepper spray and narcotics they suspected to be heroin.
The singer was also driving with an expired license and was eventually charged with possession of a leaded cane or baton, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, among other charges.
He posted a $25,000 bond and is due back in court in March.
Past drug problems
El DeBarge has had a long history of battles with addiction throughout his career. In 2018, the singer was arrested and charged with felony vandalism after allegedly destroying a man’s windshield with a wrench after an argument. Before then, he’d been arrested in 2006 and 2012 on drug possession charges.
In the 2012 arrest, DeBarge was allegedly conducting a drug deal in Encino, California, with another unidentified man and got charged with possession for the sale of narcotics.
In 2001, DeBarge was arrested for cocaine possession and was granted probation. Five years later, he was cuffed for possession of a controlled substance and was again placed on probation. In 2007, he was slapped with a domestic dispute arrest, and a year after that, he was placed behind bars again for cocaine. Luckily, probation was his only punishment.
When DeBarge was arrested in 2008 for crack possession and drug paraphernalia, however, all bets were off because he had broken the terms of his probation. DeBarge was then sent to a California penitentiary to serve a two-year stint for the violations.
As a 25-year drug abuser who began using after he suffered migraines while as a member of the group DeBarge, the singer claimed to have been born-again and completely sober upon completing his prison stay in 2010.
DeBarge family issues
The DeBarge family has suffered setbacks in recent years.
Youngest brother Chico DeBarge was arrested in 2021 on meth possession charges and was previously arrested in 2007, 2019, and 2021 on similar drug possession charges.
That same year, Tommy DeBarge passed away from liver and kidney failure.
“And so it is that on October 21, 2021, I had to say farewell to one of the greatest bass guitarists this world has ever known, and I am grieved as I confirm to you that my brother, Thomas Keith DeBarge, passed away,” El DeBarge wrote on Instagram at the time about his brother’s passing. “My dear brother Tommy finally made his transition after a lengthy illness. Tommy was a loving, gentle soul and a beloved son, husband, father, grandfather and one of the best brothers anyone could ever ask for. His legacy will live on in the hearts of all those who love him so much and in the beautiful music he created.”
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El DeBarge’s Arrest For Drugs And Weapons Is Singing Family’s Latest Legal Setback was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
