Kanye West News

We're guessing Kanye West and his hired guns will be doing everything to keep him out of L.A. County's version of love lockdown.

The hitmaker was charged today with three criminal misdemeanors in connection with his arrest last September following a run-in with a paparazzo at Los Angeles International Airport.

The city attorney charged the 31-year-old rapper with one count each of vandalism, battery and grand theft after breaking the camera of a shutterbug as he made his way through LAX's Terminal Four on Sept. 11. West's business manager, Don Crawley, 33, faces two counts each of the same charges.

West was preparing to board a flight bound for Honolulu that morning when he was confronted by a two-man crew that continued to hound him on his way to the TSA checkpoint.

In the ensuing scrum, West allegedly grabbed something off the video camera wielded by one of the men and throwing it to the ground. Prosecutors claim Crawley forcibly wrestled away a still camera, valued at $10,000, and smashed it .

West and Crawley were detained, booked on suspicion of felony vandalism and made a later flight to Hawaii. (And despite his promise of ranting about his side of the incident, West was strangely silent on his blog—presumably at the behest of his lawyer, Blair Berk.)

If convicted of the charges, the Graduation star could face a maximum of two and a half years in jail while his manager could get up to five years.

Berk declined to comment. An arraignment is scheduled for April 14.

(Originally published March 18, 2009 at 11:42 a.m. PT.)

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