(Reuters) – Miami officials on Thursday said they are investigating R&B singer Chris Brown, who is currently on probation for assaulting ex-girlfriend Rihanna, following reports that he may have been involved in the theft of a mobile phone.
Celebrity news website TMZ.com reported that a 24-year-old woman filed a police report in Miami Beach this past Sunday for “robbery by snatching” and that Brown was the culprit.
The TMZ report said the woman tried to take pictures of the singer as he was leaving a nightclub and Brown took her iPhone and drove away.
Miami Beach police did not immediately return calls for comment, nor did Brown’s representatives.
But Florida state attorney in Miami-Dade County, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, issued a statement late Thursday to address “erroneous reports … regarding the Miami Beach Police Department’s investigation of singer Chris Brown.”
“My prosecutors are currently speaking with witnesses and reviewing all of the materials supplied by Miami Beach Police. Only after these reviews have been completed would any type of action be considered or taken,” Rundle said in the statement.
Brown, 22, who won a Grammy award earlier this month, is currently midway through a five-year probation after pleading guilty to criminal assault for beating ex-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. If arrested again, Brown risks being jailed for probation violation.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
