Lee Carter, a Houston rapper known as Viper, is facing allegations that he kidnapped and held a woman hostage in his garage in squalid conditions for four to five years.
The 52-year-old artist best known for a viral vaporware album was arrested last week on a charge of felony aggravated kidnapping. He posted $100,000 bail on Sunday and appeared in court on Monday morning.
Last April, officers allegedly found a 70-pound pregnant woman locked in Carter’s garage in Houston’s Perry Street on the south side of the city. The cops described the woman as living in putrid conditions.
The room-cum-cell was a single-car garage, but the main door had been boarded up so a vehicle could not enter. The room was secured with a deadbolt locked from the outside.
In the garage was a mattress covered in vomit and a toilet without a functioning flush. The officers spoke of a pungent stench.
A woman found locked inside was described as 5″2′ tall, weighing 70 pounds and was malnourished. She was wearing dirt-encrusted shorts and a T-shirt. The cops also recovered a dog from the garage.
Carter has been accused of forcing the woman to take drugs and of raping her while holding her captive.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelAlleged kidnap victim contacted cops using laptop of Houston rapper Lee Carter
The victim had managed to alert the police to her plight by allegedly using Carter’s laptop to contact them.
It’s been reported that she was picked up four or five years ago by the rapper while panhandling in Houston.
The woman was pregnant at the time of her alleged kidnapping, but it is unknown what happened to the child. The identity of the woman and her condition is currently unknown.
Viper rapper Lee Carter claims he was in a consensual relationship with the victim
Carter’s defense team is denying that their client has done anything wrong. His attorney, George Powell, said Carter and the woman were in a consensual relationship and that they’ve had a child together.
Powell told reporters, “They’ve been together for years in a mutually consensual relationship that is 100% legal. In fact, the complainant and my client have a three-year-old son together, from whom I’ve already been provided the birth certificate.”
The lawyer also claimed that the woman had been suffering from mental issues of which his client had been supportive.
When asked about the putrid conditions in which the woman was found, Powell said he had only recently been brought onto the case and had not yet seen the garage where the victim was allegedly imprisoned.