Rapper DMX Sentenced To 6 Months In New York City Jail For Failing To Pay $400K In Child Support

Rapper Earl Simmons, better known by his stage name DMX, was sentenced to six months in an upstate New York City jail late Tuesday night for failing to pay nearly $400,000 in child support. The 44-year-old was reportedly arrested last month just before he was scheduled to perform in New York's Radio City Music Hall.

A New York City Sheriff's Office spokesman said that DMX, who has 12 children, was taken into custody for several "issues outstanding" including his inability to pay child support, the Associated Press reported, citing WPIX-TV, a local news network. The Erie County Sheriff's Office reportedly said that DMX was placed in the Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo on Tuesday.

The rapper has a complicated history with law, and according to TMZ, he was arrested more than a dozen times for charges ranging from animal cruelty, gun possession and cocaine and marijuana possession, to criminal mischief.

In April, New Jersey authorities dropped charges against DMX over a gas station robbery after the victim failed to identify him on surveillance video, E! News reported. At the time, the rapper’s lawyer reportedly called the accusation "completely absurd."

In 2013, DMX was arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) as well as for driving without a valid license, Daily Mail reported, adding that he had also spent seven months in an Arizona prison in 2011 for violating his probation over a drug-related incident.