Comedian Katt Williams arrested again over cellphone dispute

On the right, Katt Williams' mug shot from the Hall County Jail taken on March 9, 2016. On the left, Williams' mug shot from the Fulton County Jail two days later.

ATLANTA (AP) — Katt Williams was arrested on an outstanding warrant in Georgia after he turned himself in on a separate warrant, authorities said Friday.

Williams — whose real name is Micah Sierra Williams — was booked into the Fulton County Jail on Thursday on a warrant charging him with second-degree criminal damage to property, jail records show.

The case stems from Feb. 28, when a man accused Williams of throwing the man's cellphone, the entertainer's lawyer, Drew Findling, told The Associated Press on Friday. Williams was granted bond, Findling said.

The person making the allegations tried to get Williams to pay him money and, when that failed, the person pursued a warrant, Findling said.

"It's a ridiculous case," Findling added. "It's another example where Katt has a target on his forehead for somebody trying to do a financial shakedown."

Police in East Point, just outside Atlanta, discovered the warrant from the alleged incident in February when Williams showed up to turn himself in Thursday on a different warrant, one issued after he failed to appear in court on charges stemming from a confrontation at an East Point restaurant, police Capt. Cliff Chandler said Friday. Police said that during the April 27 confrontation, Williams threw a salt shaker at a restaurant manager, bloodying the employee's lip.

After he was booked Thursday, East Point police called the Fulton County Marshal's Service, which sent an officer to pick Williams up on the warrant from the alleged February incident, Chandler said.

The comedian has been arrested several times this year at various places in metro Atlanta, and near his home in the Gainesville area northeast of the city, where he has a home near Lake Lanier.

On Feb. 29, Williams was charged with battery after arguing with a worker at a swimming pool supply store in Gainesville. The worker told deputies Williams went behind the counter and punched him. On March 8, the comedian was taken into custody on charges that he threatened to kill his bodyguard during an attack inside the celebrity's home. Williams threatened the bodyguard with death while an acquaintance beat him with a baseball bat and choked him, Hall County sheriff's Deputy Nicole Bailes said.

On March 30, Williams was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after police say he fought with a 17-year-old boy at an apartment complex in Gainesville. He also was arrested this summer in the Los Angeles area, where prosecutors charged him with misdemeanor battery after a confrontation with a woman in a parking lot.