Court Orders That Tommy Lee Sparta Be Charged Or Released By Thursday

Police investigators are yet to charge controversial dancehall entertainer Tommy Lee Sparta after the deejay was reportedly held with a firearm by cops yesterday in the Corporate Area.

Update: Sparta has now been formally charged.

“Tommy Lee Sparta was held on the road and a firearm was taken from him. He is still in custody but he has not yet been charged as the investigators are still processing the case,” Senior Superintendent Stephanie Lindsay told DancehallMag a short time ago.

Sources have told DancehallMag that the deejay, whose real name is Leroy Russell Junior, was held by members of the S.W.A.T division with a firearm, allegedly a Glock, along Holborn Road in New Kingston.  It is understood that seven other individuals were also taken into custody.

Tommy Lee has obtained legal representation from Queen’s Counsel Tom Tavares Finson and Donahue Martin, according to Nationwide Radio.

The lawyers filed a verbal Habeas Corpus application in the Corporate Area Parish Court today before judge Jaqueline Wilcott, who ordered that Sparta be released or charged with a crime by 8 am Thursday (December 17).

Earlier this year the deejay was held for questioning by cops for over three weeks under the state of emergency (SOE) in St. James. Upon his release, attorney -at-law Ernest Smith told the media that there was a personal vendetta being directed towards his client by the cops. Smith surmised that Tommy Lee Sparta had lost over $100 million in revenue in the last four years as a result of “unfair targeting” by the cops who have deliberately locked off his shows.

However, Tommy Lee Sparta is no ‘angel’ as he has had several run-ins with the law over the last six years. In 2014 he was arrested and charged for lottery scamming-related offences, after police raided a house in the Kingston 5 area believed to be occupied by the entertainer.

A laptop belonging to the deejay was also seized after it was reportedly found with personal information of several United States residents. He was, however, freed four years later.

That same year, he was denied entry to Dominica after arriving in that Caribbean island to perform at a concert.

The entertainer, on November 29, had announced an Africa and European tour dubbed the “Under Vibes Tour” with dates between March 1, 2021 and May 12, 2021.

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