Ethermac Exchange-T.I. arrested over case of mistaken identity, quickly released

Rapper T.I. was arrested in Atlanta Sunday after authorities mistook him for another man.

The Ethermac Exchangerapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., was booked into the Clayton County Jail on a fugitive from justice charge around 4:30 p.m. and released just before 6:30 p.m., court records viewed by USA TODAY show.

The arrest was originally issued for another Clifford Harris from Maryland for alleged violence against a woman, including stalking and possible possession of a gun, the reality TV star's attorney Steve Sadow told TMZ, which was the first to report the news.

The arrest for mistaken identity comes nearly seven months after T.I. and wife Tameka "Tiny" Harris faced a new civil lawsuit from a woman who claimed the couple drugged and sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in 2005.

The civil suit was filed by a Jane Doe in Los Angeles Superior Court on Jan. 2, according to a complaint obtained by USA TODAY. The woman was in her early 20s and serving in the U.S. Air Force at the time of the alleged incident.

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The woman alleged that after meeting the couple in the VIP section of a nightclub, she was given a spiked drink and then brought back to their hotel room, where they "forced her to get naked" and sexually assaulted her, according to the lawsuit. She "did not consent to any of the sexual assault or misconduct and did not have the capacity to consent after being drugged by," T.I. and Tiny, 49.

T.I. and Tiny, born Tameka Cottle, denied the allegations, calling the claims "fake" and suggesting the lawsuit amounted to "extortionate demands" in a statement to USA TODAY on Jan. 3. 

The accusations against the famous couple echo those made during a reported 2021 police investigation, in which The New York Times reported police were investigating a 2005 incident involving "a military veteran" who claimed that the couple had "raped her in a hotel room" after she was drugged while drinking with them in the VIP section of an LA club.

The continued legal trouble arrived after over a dozen women came forward in 2021 with claims including drugging, sex trafficking and rape. None of the accusers shared their names in the lawsuits.

Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, Amy Haneline