Entrepreneur, rapper and producer Damon Anthony Dash was arrested Wednesday morning in Foley Square for failure to pay child support in the Bronx and Manhattan, officials for the New York City Sheriff’s office said.
Dash, best known as co-founder of Roc-A-Fella along with Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, was apparently in Manhattan on an unrelated Federal Court appearance when he was nabbed in a surveillance operation by the New York City Deputy Sheriffs for two arrest warrants that date back to 2012.
Chief Joseph Faucito, head of the Office of Sheriff of the City of New York, explained that the warrants were left outstanding for seven years because neither warrant was “extraditable,” meaning that Dash could not be forced back into the city while he was outside it.
“He know about warrants — he talks about it online and he knew he couldn’t come to New York because he would be arrested,” Chief Faucito said. “We’ve been tracking him and finally got him.”
Faucito said the first warrant was for an April 20, 2015 contempt of Supreme Court in New York County warrant related to a child support action in the case of the mother of his child, Cindy Morales. Dash is reported to owe $62,553.29 since April of 2012.
The second warrant was issued in March 2019 in the Bronx Family Court case of Rachel Roy, according to Faucito. In this case, Dash was ordered to pay $341,991.16 and $25,000 attorney fees.
Dash is reportedly still in Family Court and is subject to contempt of court in addition to the payments both women are seeking, officials said.
Dash married Roy, a fashion designer, in 2005. They met when she was working as an intern at Rocaware and have two daughters.
In 2009, they had a bitter custody battle. In April 2015, Roy accused Dash of domestic abuse and filed for a restraining order. Roy was awarded sole custody of both daughters. The court granted Roy and her daughters with a three-year restraining order against Dash.
Days later, Dash filed a $2.5 million claim against Roy in which he asserted damage for allegedly mishandling their joint fashion business, Royale Etenia.
Dash also has a son, Dame “Boogie” Dash, with former girlfriend Linda Williams. In 2014, he was ordered to pay Williams $50,000 for causing her to be prosecuted on harassment charges in 2009. Dash also has another son, born in 2004.
Cindy Morales is the mother of two and is seeking child support from Dash.
