T.I.'s on-again-off-again girlfriend, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, was arrested by officials on Saturday afternoon (October 13) and charged with drug possession.
T.I. (born Clifford Harris) was the target of an FBI sting operation that culminated this weekend in a Walgreens shopping center parking lot, in what feds claim was the scene of an illegal arms deal.
The investigation began almost two weeks ago, when Tip's bodyguard asked a licensed gun dealer at The Gun Store about buying a machine gun without registering it, according to documents released by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
The dealer reported the incident to the ATF who started an investigation and lined up an undercover agent posing as a machine gun dealer.
Just a little over a week later, on October 10, authorities said T.I. paid his bodyguard $12,000 to purchase three machine guns and two silencers from an undercover agent at a K-mart store lot, according to a press release from the Department of Justice. When federal agents arrested the bodyguard, he allegedly gave T.I. up, saying the weapons were for his boss, and they were only a small part of a larger gun stash, 25 weapons in all, he'd amassed for his employer over the past year and a half. The bodyguard agreed to work with authorities.
Fast forward to October 13. Tip met up with his bodyguard in the parking lot in midtown Atlanta to pick up the goods. According to the criminal complaint, as the bodyguard was explaining to the rapper how one silencer functioned, TI allegedly said, "No flash, no bang."
That's when the feds moved in and cuffed the rapper with no incident.
T.I. had arrived in a car with three guns, including one firearm hidden between the driver's seat and the center console.
Tiny was charged by Atlanta police with possession of marijuana and the drug ecstasy. Officials also took into custody T.I. associates Mac Boney and Young Dro, one source on the scene said. The two Grand Hustle rappers were not charged with any crimes.
T.I. is a convicted felon and accordingly can not legally own any firearms.
"Machine guns with silencers are not illegal weapons per se. But you need permission to own them," Special Agent Marc Jackson of the ATF told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. "It has to get vetted through a law enforcement agency, there's a criminal background check, and they need to pay a tax."
T.I.'s initial court appearance will be at 3 p.m. today (October 15) before Magistrate Alan Baverman at the federal courthouse in Atlanta.
Attorney Dwight Thomas and Steve Sadow are representing the rapper.
"We'll go in, request bail on his behalf and vigorously defend him," said Thomas. About T.I., he added, "I can tell you he's in good spirits. He's confident the legal system will work in his favor.
Young Dro is also confident.
"We're going to be all right," Dro said Sunday. "It's just a mistake. Everybody's entitled to some. We'll be OK."
The arrests went down hours before T.I. was slated to perform at the BET Hip Hop Awards Show in Atlanta.
The rapper and Tiny have a son together named King. T.I. is a father of five.