SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. – A number of Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies, including SWAT team members, were seen at the Southwest Ranches home of recording artist Sean Kingston Thursday morning. Authorities said they took his mother into custody.
The home is in the area of Southwest 146th Avenue and 46th Street.
Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Paul Anderson, was born in Miami and moved to his family’s native Jamaica at the age of 6, attending high school in the country before moving back to South Florida.
According to deputies, Kingston was also arrested on Thursday by officers in Fort Irwin, California on the arrest warrant from BSO. He is expected to be booked into jail in San Bernardino, California, deputies said.
Outside Kingston’s home in Southwest Ranches, Local 10 News spotted more than a dozen BSO deputies, next to a command center that investigators set up in the driveway.
In a civil complaint obtained from the Broward Clerk of Courts, a company by the name Ver Ver Entertainment alleges that Kingston, 34, partially paid for a 232-inch television and entertainment system but, following the installation, never paid for the product in full.
The complaint goes on to allege that Kingston used his name and celebrity status to scam people out of products and services — never paying for them.
5 p.m. report:
Attorney Dennis Card, who represents Ver Ver Entertainment, spoke to Local 10 News on Thursday.
“He basically has a sales pitch that he goes through to defraud people. He induces them into giving him really expensive things,” Card said. “We know that our property is inside this house right here, so as soon as the raid takes place we are going to have a crew of people in there to reassemble it and take it back to its rightful owner.”
Kingston has not been seen on the property, though his relatives were there Thursday. They declined to speak with Local 10 News.
Authorities said they took Kingston’s mother Janice Turner, 61, into custody on “numerous fraud and theft charges” pursuant to an investigation that began in Dania Beach earlier that morning.
Turner was booked into the Broward County Jail Thursday evening.
“She is complicit,” Card said. “She knows what going on.”
On Thursday afternoon, Kingston posted to social media, “People love negative energy! I am good and so is my mother!.. my lawyers are handling everything as we speak.”
Editor’s note: The original version of this article misstated Turner’s age as 60 rather than 61. It has since been corrected.
Civil complaint: