Las Vegas-based rapper Trap Montanna has been arrested after police rescued six children, two of whom were locked in cages, from his home. The rapper, real name Travis Doss, was taken into police custody on Sunday, June 11 on 40 charges, including several counts of child abuse. His wife, Amanda Stamper, was also arrested and indicted on seven child abuse charges.
Police rescued the children after receiving a call from the rapper’s wife last month alleging that he had threatened her life, according to 8 News Now. Stamper, who made the call from a convenience store where she was hiding from her husband, told police “there were children locked in a dog kennel” and alleged that Doss was “violent towards all the children” and abused them with “belts, extension cords, skillets, his hands and feet,” according to documents, per HotNewHipHop. She also alleged that “all the children are covered with marks from their neck down.”
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When police arrived at the apartment near Flamingo Road and Valley View Boulevard, they discovered six children, aged 2 to 11, alone with two dogs, according to an arrest warrant obtained by the New York Post. Two of the older boys, ages 9 and 11, were found, padlocked in a dog cage. Doss reportedly told Stamper he believed one of the children caged was already dead because he had “kicked him in the head too hard.” Stamper reportedly told police she believed the child “looked dead for the last five days.” In video of police entering the home, the 11-year-old child caged told police he was forced to share what little food he had with his siblings and that he had not eaten for days.
“He kept saying that he was always hungry and that’s why he stole and then he said it’s food that’s in the trash can so how is that even stealing,” a detective told a grand jury. “And he kept saying that he needed big food because he was a big boy now and that he would have to share like one large fry from McDonald’s with like all six kids, his six siblings I mean, and just that he was never really fed and that’s why he stole.”
In an interview with police, Doss reportedly said he knew he “beat [the child] pretty bad” but he had “no choice.” He said he never witnessed Stamper hit the children. Stamper’s public defender told the court in June that Stamper was aware of the abuse, but “if she had done anything, she would have been subjected to serious, serious abuse.”
Doss was indicted on 40 charges, including several counts of child abuse. Stamper, meanwhile, faces seven child abuse charges. Judge Andrew Wong initially set Doss’ bail at $250,000 in June, but his bail was raised to $500,000 following his indictment. Both he and Stamper have pleaded not guilty to the charges.