Rapper Kevin ‘Chopper’ Barnes caught in a police sting operation, report says

A rapper and former reality TV star used his Instagram account to allegedly recruit a sex worker to work for him, when in reality he had messaged an undercover social media profile set up by Las Vegas police, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report released Wednesday.

In a series of messages and phone calls that lasted two days beginning on March 29, Kevin Barnes, who uses the moniker “Chopper,” enticed the supposed victim to work for him, increasingly threatening her when she appeared to show hesitancy, police said.

Barnes, who at one point said, “imma rich pimp, imma boss,” and noted that he owns a house in Southern Highlands and six more across the U.S., threatened the woman, demanding that she board a flight to North Carolina, or pay him, the report said.

He noted he had multiple women working for him in what he described as his “stable,” police said.

“I know how to find you,” he purportedly said at one point, adding that he knew people in Las Vegas who would go after her. And he told her: “I can make it bad for you,” according to the report.

Barnes, 36, was booked Monday into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of sex trafficking of an adult, records show.

He has since walked out of jail on his own recognizance, records show.

Barnes reached out to the decoy account saying that he wanted to “elevate” the sex worker, who he said had to get out of Las Vegas because it was a law enforcement hot spot for the trade. The woman told him that she had been arrested a couple of times, and that she wanted to make enough money to buy a house and a car.

In a phone interview, they discussed the possibility of her flying to him, police said.

But it was not long before he started to set down rules.

“Every time i call, you better answer. No excuses. Only chance. you have one chance,” he said, according to his arrest report. “If you’re playing with me, and my stable, and my intelligence then leave now.”

When she said she was nervous about going to North Carolina, Barnes became increasingly angry and began to threaten her, asking for a fee to leave her alone, police said.

“If you a failure say that, if you a loser say that,” he said, according to the report.

Barnes appeared in MTV’s Making the Band competition, and his Instagram account boasts about 340,000 followers.

Las Vegas Justice Court records show that the case was filed on April 11 and a warrant for his arrest was issued the following day. He is next due in court on May 15.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.