Rapper Fabolous pays $15,000 bail in cash

updated 11:54 p.m. ET Oct. 18, 2006

NEW YORK - Rapper Fabolous, accused of possessing two loaded handguns after being shot in the thigh, walked out of a courthouse Wednesday after a member of his entourage posted $15,000 cash bail.

The 28-year-old Brooklyn rapper, whose legal name is John Jackson, was arraigned on five counts of criminal possession of a weapon before his associate opened an aluminum attache case and plunked down 15 piles of $1,000 each, all still in their bank wrappers.

Fabolous, known for hits “Breathe” and “Can’t Deny It,” was arrested after he was treated for a gunshot wound in his right thigh early Tuesday outside Justin’s, a soul food restaurant and club owned by rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Boston Celtics point guard Sebastian Telfair, who also was at the restaurant, told police that someone snatched a $50,000 chain from his neck. Suspecting that the rapper’s entourage might have been involved, detectives had Telfair view police lineups with the men, but he failed to identify any of them.

“We’re investigating whether there’s a connection between the reported robbery and the shooting,” New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.

The rapper’s defense attorney, Alberto Ebanks, suggested that Telfair, who came out of Coney Island to become a first-round NBA draft pick, and Fabolous were victims of assailants targeting the club’s high-profile clientele.

“These were people preying on celebrities, and my client was obviously targeted because he is a high-profile celebrity and platinum-selling artist,” Ebanks said.

According to Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg, several witnesses heard gunshots outside the East 22nd Street restaurant at about 12:30 a.m. There were a number of calls to 911, and one witness took down the make and license plate of a sport utility vehicle leaving the scene, she said.

When police stopped the SUV, they found inside two loaded handguns, including one that had a defaced serial number, she said. They also found the wounded Fabolous in the back seat. The driver, Rascharm Davis, along with passengers Kevin Bass and Percell German, all of Brooklyn, were arrested.

The three others in the car also were charged with five counts of weapons possession because none of them would acknowledge owning the guns, police said.

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