Tommy’s troubles
THE phrase, ‘lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice’ does not apply to Montego Bay-based deejay Tommy Lee Sparta.
In July, he grabbed headlines as cops asked him to report to the Freeport Police Station in that city, as a person interest. It was in relation to the upsurge of criminal activities in that division.
The dancehall artiste was detained under the state of public emergency (SOE) for six weeks, before being released without being charged.
Attorney-at-law representing Tommy Lee Sparta, Ernest Smith, said his client was lured from Kingston to Mobay by lawmen and unfairly held under the SOE. He said a legal showdown is in the works.
“He’s been the victim of unlawful restraint of trade. That is the category under which the action will arise. In other words, he was not allowed to ply his trade without justification,” Smith told the Jamaica Observer at the time.
“I’m going to bring action against the State for his loss of income for the period of false imprisonment, and we’re also looking at a calculation for the number of times that he was prevented from performing in Montego Bay and other areas in the west, and that calculation looks like it’s running into about a hundred million dollars,” he continued.
Last week, Tommy Lee Sparta (given name Leroy Russell) was again in the news. And, like the previous instance, it was not for his music. He was charged for illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
According to the police, he was arrested after a vehicle in which he travelled was intercepted by members of the Jamaica Constabulary
Force’s (JCF) specialised operations. The men in the vehicle were searched and a 9mm Glock pistol with an extended magazine containing 18 rounds of ammunition was found in his waistband.
The lawmen say Tommy Lee Sparta is the subject of other criminal investigations.
He is scheduled to appear in the Gun Court in downtown Kingston on January 6.
Tommy Lee is no stranger to run-ins with the law.
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 Dominica Association of Evangelical Churches said the artiste’s appearance and music glorify Satan and promote lawlessness and violence. He was deported the following day.
In 2015, the Montego
Bay police prevented him from performing on Reggae Sumfest for “fear of patrons’ safety”.
The following year he was listed as a person of interest by detectives in the Kingston Eastern Division. At that time, it was in relation to a shooting incident on Saunders Avenue in the Kingston 2 section of the Corporate Area.
In 2017, the Freeport Police Station in Montego Bay requested he turn himself in for questioning in relation to a shooting in the Flanker community during the Christmas season. He was cleared in both instances.
In March, Tommy Lee Sparta’s six-year-old daughter was shot during an altercation involving three men in Flanker. A nine-yearold boy was fatally shot in that incident.
A former member of Vybz Kartel’s Portmore “Gaza” Empire, Tommy Lee Sparta got his break in 2012. He is known for songs including Spartan Soldier, Spartan Angel, Psycho, and Rich Badness.