Crime & Arrests

Nate Diaz is now in custody in New Orleans ... jail records, obtained by TMZ Sports, show the ex-UFC star turned himself in early Thursday morning after an arrest warrant was issued for him earlier this week.

According to the records, Diaz was booked at 7:40 AM on a charge of second-degree battery.

No further details surrounding the turn-in were made immediately available.

As we reported, the New Orleans Police Dept. initially issued the arrest warrant for the 38-year-old fighter on Monday ... two days after he was seen on video choking out a man during a large altercation on Bourbon Street.

In the footage, you can see Diaz -- who was in Louisiana to watch the Misfits Boxing 6 event  -- got a guy in a headlock ... and choked him unconscious before he laid the dude down in the street. Cops said the man suffered a head wound in the altercation.

After the arrest warrant was issued, Diaz's rep, Zach Rosenfield, said Diaz was innocent ... and "acted entirely in self-defense."

Diaz is slated to fight Jake Paul in a boxing match later this summer. It's unclear if Wednesday's arrest will alter any plans for the much-anticipated fight.

Bam Margera is on the run from cops, but he's still contacting family members with disturbing and aggressive phone calls ... blaming them for his struggles.

Sources close to Margera tell us ... Bam's family is clueless as to where he fled since disappearing Sunday. We're told everyone who loves Bam is extremely worried -- he's been a loose cannon lately and they want him to come home so they can help him.

What's more ... our sources say Bam has made random calls to family members -- seemingly intoxicated -- telling them how much he hates all of them for putting him in a Florida treatment center last year. He's also accusing them of selling his home and stealing money. He trusts no one and has threatened to sue them for money he claims they stole from him.

During these phone calls, we're told Bam refuses to disclose his location ... they don't even know if he's still in Pennsylvania. Our sources say cops are interviewing people and trying to determine his whereabouts.

Bam doesn't have a cell phone, and cops have allegedly told the family they aren't working to ping the girlfriend's cell (he's allegedly traveling with her) because the case isn't considered a priority.

TMZ broke the story ... cops were called to a home in Pocopson Township Sunday, April 23 after Bam's brother, Jess, says Bam attacked him, striking him multiple times in the head. Jess says Bam was enraged, allegedly saying, "I'll kill you. I'll put a bullet in your head."

Jess says Bam fled into the woods behind the house after the alleged attack, and cops have not been able to locate him since.

Pras is guilty of committing fraud according to the jury in the federal trial where the Fugees rapper was accused of trading political influence in exchange for millions from Malaysian fugitive Jho Low.

During the trial Pras admitted accepting $20 million from Low for a photo-op with then-President Barack Obama as he ran for reelection -- and also helped set up a scheme to illegally funnel money to the Obama campaign through straw donors. Prosecutors were not going after the Obama campaign.

High-profile witnesses Leonardo DiCaprio and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions took the stand during the case.

Pras reportedly blamed his decision to participate in the schemes on the bad advice of an attorney, but that clearly didn't sway the jury as he's now looking at up to 20 years in prison.

We spoke to Pras outside court during the heat of the trial and he didn't have much to say. The jury clearly felt he said more than enough in court.

Bam Margera is on the run from the police with his girlfriend and her 8-year-old child, and to make matters worse, he's developed an addiction to meth ... at least according to his brother, Jess Margera.

The former "Jackass" star's sibling is making the alarming allegations on Twitter, claiming Bam is in a really bad place right now.

Jess says Bam is traveling by car with his girlfriend and her daughter, and he says he "can't even imagine the environment in that car night now," worrying about the kid's safety and adding ... "she doesn't deserve this unnecessary trauma."

Bam's brother claims he's picked up a meth habit recently and is now "unrecognizable." Jess says he doesn't know what Bam's capable of when he's using meth and says it's been "scary" and "heartbreaking" to see Bam "hallucinating."

TMZ broke the story ... Bam's got a warrant out for his arrest in Pennsylvania, where State Police say Bam got into an altercation with his family and then made a getaway into the woods.

Drake Bell looks to be in a bad place -- inhaling from a balloon that appears to be filled with nitrous oxide ... a troubling move that comes amid some tumultuous weeks for him.

The former child star was sitting in his car Tuesday outside of his L.A. home sucking on a fully inflated balloon. In one of the photos, you can see a cannister of some sort -- which resembles a typical nitrous oxide container.

Of course, huffing nitrous is a dangerous but popular method of getting high -- a few seconds of euphoria and head rush -- without using hard drugs.

BTW ... this is not Drake's first rodeo with nitrous oxide -- he was pictured doing the exact same thing back in December, and, in that instance his young son was in the car too.

And yes, inhaling nitrous oxide without a medical professional's supervision or guidance is, indeed, bad for one's health.

As we reported ... Drake's clearly been going through it of late. He told Twitter users last week that he was contemplating suicide after the trolling and attacks over his child endangerment conviction in 2021 -- which has led to people labeling him a "pedophile."

On top of that ... his wife filed for divorce just a couple days prior, this after he was reported missing in Florida -- only to pop up on the radar again in what turned out be a false alarm.

We know Drake has been thrust into a child custody battle with his now-estranged wife -- and, apparently, it's gotten so ugly behind the scenes ... he's been sending scary messages to his family that made them worry for his safety and his life.

The guy's had a lot of ups and downs in recent years -- everything from a choppy music career to even more legal issues like a DUI bust and bankruptcy.

As we reported, family members called police a couple weeks ago, because they were so worried about Drake. These images won't ease those concerns.

President Biden was played by Vladimir Putin ... according to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, who says the Russian president agreed to send Paul Whelan home with Brittney Griner but changed the deal during the exchange.

Despite reneging on the agreed-upon swap, McCaul says the U.S. went through with the trade, sending back notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, knowns as "the merchant of death."

"The deal was originally when the arms dealer from Russia was released that it was supposed to be Griner, the athlete, and Paul Whelan," Rep. McCaul revealed this week during an appearance on CNN.

The Congressman from Texas' 10th district continued ... "When they got to the point of the handoff, they call it, the Russians only showed up with one of the hostages, and that was Griner. And unfortunately, the Marine, Paul Whelan, was left behind."

Rep. McCaul believes the Russian president "played" JB's administration.

"Very tricky on Putin's part, and in my view, the Biden administration got played by releasing a very dangerous arms dealer for just one hostage, and not both."

Of course, 53-year-old Whelan, a retired U.S. Marine, has been locked up in Russia since December 2018. Shortly after his arrest, he was convicted on an espionage charge, and sentenced to 16 years in prison. The U.S. has always maintained the charges are BS.

As for the details of the negotiations, McCaul is likely in a position to know about the inner workings of the months-long, high-level discussions ... he chairs the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee. He also previously sat on the House Homeland Security Committee.

Michael Blackson is rejecting Desiigner's "mental health" apology/explanation for his recent indecent exposure charges -- instead, he thinks it's simply a sign American culture is too soft!

On Tuesday, Desiigner posted a video of himself bumping a new tune while claiming he was moments from checking himself into a treatment facility as the aftermath of his bizarre Delta flight unfolds.

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story, Desiigner is charged with indecent exposure for masturbating in plain sight of multiple flight attendants during a flight from Tokyo to Minneapolis. The FBI says he was even armed with a jar of Vaseline.

Michael thinks Desiigner used mental health as a cop-out for his horniness after he got busted and compared American culture to his native homeland of Africa ... a place he says everything gets blamed on the devil!!!

We recently spoke to G Perico, who doesn't have a dog in the fight in the convo, but unlike Michael, says he can see obvious mental health issues in Desiigner's sitch and wished him well.

Latto's reached the finish line in her airport loaded gun case ... because we're told it's been dismissed, now that she's met all requirements of a year-long program to clear the charges.

According to the L.A. County Superior Court Clerk, the rapper's case was officially dismissed Tuesday -- per her diversion program, Latto completed a gun & safety course, 120 hours of community service, and avoided all firearms to get it done.

Latto's attorney Jamal Tooson tells TMZ ... "I am extremely pleased with the outcome and glad my client can move forward with her flourishing career."

As you'll recall, Latto fans first discovered the ordeal when she rapped about it in Mello Buckzz's track, "Boom Pt. 2" ... saying, "I got locked up in the airport, goddamn forgot the gun."

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story ... she was busted at LAX in May 2021 and charged with carrying a loaded firearm and possession of a concealed weapon. She started her 12-month diversion program in April of last year.

BTW ... Latto filled the details in for fans, saying she had a loaded Glock in her purse while trying to get on a private flight to ATL. She claimed cops only kept her for a few hours before she was able to take off for her concert.

More troubles for the Univ. of Alabama men's basketball team ... Jaykwon Walton, a top hooper who was slated to transfer to the Tide this season, was arrested over the weekend -- and now, he's been dropped from the team over it all.

Walton was busted for possession of marijuana at around 10:11 PM on the Strip in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night -- just three months after former Tide guard Darius Miles was arrested in the same area following allegations he was involved in the shooting death of Jamea Harris.

According to Tuscaloosa Police, a vehicle that Walton and two others were in reeked of marijuana ... and when officers eventually searched the ride, they said they found "a rolling tray, a baggie containing approximately 20 grams of marijuana, and a half-rolled blunt in the passenger side floorboard."

Cops also noted there were three loaded firearms in the car as well.

Walton was taken into custody and booked on a charge of second-degree possession of marijuana. He was released on $500 bond a short time later.

Bama head coach Nate Oats, though, said the former Wichita State star was no longer in the plans for his team's 2023-24 roster after the arrest.

"Alabama is no longer recruiting Jaykwon Walton," Oats said in a statement Monday night. "He will not be a student-athlete at the University of Alabama."

Oats had previously caught heat for the way he handled Miles' arrest and the ensuing allegations surrounding it back in the winter. While he did axe the guard from the team ... when authorities said star Brandon Miller had a connection to the case, Oats opted to not punish him.

Miller, who declared for the NBA draft this offseason, didn't miss a single game ... and eventually helped lead the Tide to the Sweet 16.

Aaron Hernandez's brother, D.J. Hernandez, has just put one of his most recent legal troubles in the rearview mirror ... TMZ Sports has learned he cut a deal with prosecutors Monday to close out his reckless driving case.

A Connecticut court official tells us ... D.J. pled guilty to one count of failure to drive in a proper lane and one count of failure to use traffic control signals. In exchange, prosecutors dropped the other charges against him -- which included reckless driving and engaging police in pursuit.

The court official said D.J. was ordered to pay $100 in fines ... and the matter is now considered closed. We reached out to D.J. for comment, but he declined.

We broke the story ... the 36-year-old was initially hit with the charges in late March after he had been involved in what police said was a wild car chase through Connecticut roadways on March 8.

According to cops, officers attempted to pull over D.J. for a routine traffic stop -- but he allegedly bolted, shaking cops as he traveled at a high rate of speed.

He was eventually stopped and put in custody following a brief foot chase, cops said. Officers wrote in police documents that D.J. told them he had been driving around the state in an effort to get arrested because "he no longer wanted to stay at his mom's house."

Cops said in the docs they believed he was having a bipolar episode.

Just days later, on March 23, D.J. found himself in more legal trouble ... after authorities accused him of throwing a large brick at ESPN's campus in Bristol.

Bam Margera is a wanted man in Pennsylvania on a slew of criminal charges -- this after cops say he got into an altercation ... and made a getaway into the woods.

The Pennsylvania State Police tells TMZ ... State Troopers responded to a reported disturbance Sunday morning around 11 AM ET near Pocopson Township -- which resulted in an alleged victim accusing Bam of being involved in some sort of physical confrontation.

The only problem ... by the time cops showed up, Bam had fled the scene of the incident into a nearby wooded area, and as of now hasn't been found.

Now, a warrant has been issued for his arrest ... and the PA State Police are actively searching for him -- asking the public for any help on info regarding his whereabouts. The charges he's facing sound pretty serious ... although, we're told they're all misdemeanors.

While we still don't know what exactly happened here -- or who the alleged victim is -- we know BM's facing 4 counts of terroristic threats with intent to terrorize another, one count of simple assault and a final count of harassment while subjecting another to physical contact.

As you know ... Bam's been going through a lot of issues in his personal life of late -- most of which seem to stem from his addiction and substance abuse issues ... not to mention his partying lifestyle.

We covered it all in the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms!

NBA YoungBoy and his team got super creative so the rapper could enjoy his album release with fans while still on house arrest ... but there was one big problem ... YoungBoy didn't hold up his end of the deal.

Elevate Lounge in Los Angeles was packed with friends and fans Thursday night who were all eager to not only hear the rapper's new album, but to also get a live stream video appearance from the man himself.

If you didn't know, YoungBoy's been on house arrest in Utah for a gun possession charge ... so the live stream seemed like a perfect idea.

The plan was for the album to play at midnight and YB to join in once it dropped ... however, that didn't happen, and a source with direct knowledge tells us it's because he fell asleep.

A statement from YB's team refutes that claim, saying, "There was a technical difficulty and they couldn't get NBA YoungBoy on the live stream. They tried Zoom and FaceTime without any success and unfortunately, NBA YoungBoy was unable to connect with his friends and fans."

Savannah Chrisley says she was barred from taking a Southwest Airlines flight after a heated argument with an employee ... and it all stemmed from an unchecked bag.

The "Chrisley Knows Best" star took to Instagram Thursday to detail on video what happened, explaining that she was about to board the plane from New York to Tennessee when the Southwest worker at the gate said she needed to check her bag.

Chrisley responded that she wanted to take her luggage on the flight to see if it would fit in the overhead bin, but the employee said she couldn't.

After she pushed back a bit, Chrisley says the employee labeled her an "unruly passenger" and a pilot -- who was standing nearby -- came over to try to calm the situation.

But the employee turned to the pilot and stated, "Stay out of it … ma’am you’re not flying on this flight,'” meaning Chrisley.

Pissed, Chrisley says she called the worker an asshole, and then tried to reason with him by pointing out that she had to get home to be with her 10-year-old niece Chloe.

But the worker was undeterred, saying, "I don't care," according to Chrisley, who added, “So Southwest, you’re awful but not going to lie … your pilot was kinda hot.”

Chrisley says she finally boarded a late flight and arrived home in Tennessee around 2 am.

A scary situation just unfolded outside Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker's home ... after a crazed fan who was desperate to meet him drove her car through his neighborhood security gate.

Sources close to Travis tell TMZ the woman made multiple attempts to access the star's gated Los Angeles neighborhood Friday. We're told she tried at least 4 times to come in, but was turned away each time. Finally, on the 5th attempt, she took matters into her own hands ... driving through the security gate.

From there, our sources say the woman was intercepted by Travis' private security and held until police arrived. Law enforcement sources tell us the woman has been arrested.

Lucky for Travis, he wasn't home when the whole thing happened. In fact, we're told he'd been rehearsing with Blink for the band's massive headlining gig at Coachella coming up this Sunday, and was actually on his way back home when the whole thing went down.

Our sources tell us Travis' security team told him to stay put while they got the whole thing under control. He plans on getting a restraining order against the woman.

As for the whole Coachella thing ... Blink killed it during Weekend 1 of the festival, and were tapped to fill Frank Ocean's vacant spot this coming weekend for what promises to be an incredible show.

Ralph Yarl is alive today thanks, in part, to the actions of 2 neighbors who came to his assistance minutes after Andrew Lester shot the 16-year-old boy twice -- and one of those neighbors is tearfully sharing the traumatic experience.

Jodi Rae joined us Thursday on "TMZ Live," and was almost immediately choked up remembering when Ralph banged on her front door, desperately seeking help. She says she couldn't see out her front door, and was uncertain about what was going on outside.

She had not heard the gunshots, but says it was clear Ralph was in dire need of assistance ... so, she decided to call 911. The operator told her there was an active shooter in the area, and advised Jodi not to open her door.

This definitely created a massive dilemma for Jodi ... one that brought her to tears as she told us about it -- she wanted to make sure her own son remained safe in their home, but also wanted to help Ralph, who she could see through her window falling to his knees.

Jodi says once she saw another neighbor walking outside, she figured the danger must have passed ... and immediately ran to Ralph's side. When she saw pools of blood outside her door, she realized the teen had been shot.

The story gets even more gripping and emotional at this point ... Jodi says she and a male neighbor used a towel to apply pressure to Ralph's head wound, held his hand and talked to him about school ... anything to keep his mind off the pain he was clearly suffering.

She fought through tears to tell us what Ralph told them about getting shot. She says she's had very limited contact with the shooter, Lester, since moving to the Kansas City neighborhood last year.

Jodi says she just kept thinking, "That's somebody's son," and knew she had to do something to help him. Sadly, she says there's been some backlash against her and other neighbors ... people who are, incorrectly, assuming the community did nothing to help Ralph.

While that's clearly not what happened, Jodi says she's mostly concerned with Ralph's recovery. She says, "Nothing compares to what that young man is living through every day."

Mikey Williams -- one of the best high school basketball players in the country -- just pled not guilty to the six felony charges he was hit with in his shooting case.

Troy Owens, the attorney for the San Ysidro H.S. star point guard, entered the pleas for the Univ. of Memphis commit at Williams' arraignment hearing in San Diego on Thursday morning.

During the proceedings, which Williams attended remotely, a judge ordered the basketball player to stay away from the alleged victims in the case. Williams was also ordered to not be in possession of guns or ammunition.

Williams was charged with five counts of assault with a firearm and one count of shooting at an occupied vehicle ... after authorities allege he was involved in an altercation near his home in eastern San Diego on March 27.

Police say someone opened fire on a car that had five people in it -- including three minors -- following an argument at a nearby home. No one was injured.

Williams was arrested on April 13 over his alleged role in it all ... and after he posted bond, Owens said in a statement the hooper "maintains his innocence."

Williams is due back in court for another hearing on the matter in June.

Meanwhile, Williams' future college coach -- Tigers head man Penny Hardaway -- told media members on Wednesday Memphis has not cut ties with the star guard over the arrest.