According to police, a rapper and former reality TV star is facing a felony sex trafficking charge in Las Vegas as part of an ongoing criminal investigation alleging that he used his large social media following to recruit women as prostitutes.
According to court records, Kevin Lamont Barnes Jr., 37, was arrested Monday and released without bail from the Clark County Detention Center on Tuesday, pending a preliminary hearing of evidence on May 10.
Barnes, who goes by the stage name Chopper and was featured on the MTV reality show “Making the Band” in the early 2000s, was represented in court by a public defender. It was unclear later whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Police and prosecutors did not immediately release information about the investigation.
According to documents obtained by the celebrity website TMZ, Barnes used social media to tell an undercover vice detective posing as a sex worker to travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, to become part of his “team.”
After leaving MTV, Chopper joined the hip-hop group Da Band, which was founded by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs. Da Band was disbanded at the end of Season 3 of the show, and members of the group went their separate ways.
“Making the Band” premiered on ABC in 2000, with Lou Pearlman, manager of the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, launching the show and forming the boy band O-Town.
In 2002, Diddy revamped the show for MTV and discovered the group Da Band. On the show, Diddy also launched the careers of Day 26, Donnie Klang, and Danity Kane, who went on to have two No. 1 albums under his Bad Boy Records label.
Diddy announced to eager fans in 2019 that the hit series would be returning. It was scheduled to premiere in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted plans around the world. The reboot never happened.