Serial dog abuser DMX, whose creepy extralegal activities here in Phoenix we have detailed here and here, has been arrested after the local sheriff’s office completed its investigation of how he allegedly tried to rip off a local hospital.

He’s accused of running up a $7,500 bill at a local Mayo Clinic but left a false name and contact information.

The sheriff out here is a nut named Joe Arpaio, who gets a lot of national attention for his colorful ways and radical enforcement of immigration laws. Outlets like CNN that let him natter on about this side of his work rarely look at what really goes on in the sheriff’s office. The problems include unexplained deaths of inmates in his office’s custody, payouts of more than $40 million in legal cases, and pervasive management problems.

For example, when the city tried to get him to rein in overtime costs, which were running four times over budget, he responded by refusing to transport inmates to court hearings and cut visiting hours drastically.

(Here’s a good overview by the Phoenix New Times.)

Anyway, all that said, Arpaio, with his peculiar fixations, has homed in on DMX, who seems to deserve it. From the Arizona Republic:

If [DMX] remains in the jail for a while, he may be headed to tent city or the chain gang, Arpaio said.

“Only reason he lives in the desert is he likes to shoot his guns off and he keeps doing these shenanigans and doesn’t get the message,” Arpaio said. “He just doesn’t believe in the criminal-justice system and sticks his nose up at it. Hopefully, nothing will happen when he gets out next.”

Before you start feeling sorry for the rapper, here’s a rundown of his local legal troubles:

• Last August, a local sheriff raided his house and found a dozen abused dogs, many of them starving—and the bodies of three more buried in the yard.

• They also found marijuana “packaged for sale,” and other drug paraphernalia, local papers said.

• A week ago, sheriffs raided the house again to serve an arrest warrant—and found five new pit bull pups.

• On the dog charges from last August, he was finally arraigned Thursday and pleaded not guilty, after showing up for court an hour late in jeans and a T shirt, the Arizona Republic reported

• He was charged with seven animal mistreatment counts and four felony drug counts, including simple possession of marijuana.

• DMX is also wanted by the suburb of Cave Creek, where he owes $3000 in traffic fines stemming from a couple of stops where he was found to be driving without insurance or ID or driving on a suspended license.  He never bothered to show up in court.

• There’s a sideshow to the central dogs ‘n’ drugs case going on. DMX may also be charged with theft of services at the local Mayo Clinic. According to the Arizona Republic, which based the story on a search warrant police executed, police say he went to the hospital and was diagnosed with pneumonia, but gave a false name and skipped out on the bill.

• And that’s not the end of DMX’s legal affairs. Reported the Republic:

Simmons and his wife, Tashera, who have four children, were sued in Maricopa County Superior Court last year by American Express Travel for $64,866 plus late charges, interest on a credit card and attorneys’ fees. The couple had paid a portion of the bill, but with other fees, still owe $83,353, as of April 23, court records said.

And, of course, DMX has already pleaded guilty to thirteen counts of abusing dogs in 1999. From the Republic:

In the New Jersey case, police found 13 pit bull puppies held in cages or crates in the basement and garage of the rapper’s Teaneck, N.J. home.

“They were growing into their cages,” said Ray Koski , a former special prosecutor who represented the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which brought the charges.

The confinement deformed the puppies, Koski said, adding that a veterinarian had to cut them out of their cages.

“They looked like they had grill marks on them,” Koski said. Four survived. The others either died or were euthanized, Koski said. Published reports said the house reeked of dog urine and feces and was infested with flies, when police arrived.