CAVE CREEK, Ariz. -- Authorities have not yet determined whether any charges will be filed against rapper DMX in connection with a half-pound of suspected illegal narcotics found at his Phoenix area home.
Sheriff's deputies found the suspected drugs at the rapper's home on Friday during an investigation into claims of animal cruelty.
VIEW SLIDESHOW: Deputies Raid Home Of DMXNo charges have been filed and no one has been arrested. Arpaio said the investigation into alleged animal cruelty is ongoing and the suspected drugs are being tested to confirm their content.
A tip came in more than a week ago about dogs being kept in inhumane conditions, Arpaio said.
Detectives went to the home and then called one of the rapper's lawyers, Arpaio said. Investigators told him that the conditions for the dogs needed to be improved or deputies would obtain a search warrant, Arpaio said.
Authorities armed with a warrant returned to the home Friday and discovered a dozen dogs that were not being watered or fed, Arpaio said.
The man who claimed to have been taking care of the dogs for the past three weeks told CBS 5 News the dogs did not have adequate food, water or shade. He also said the dogs had not been used for fighting.
Neighbors said they haven't seen DMX for several months.
Besides illegal narcotics, a cache of weapons was also found inside the home, according to Arpaio.
The weapons are being checked to see if they are legal, the sheriff said. The rapper's attorney, Murray Richman, said DMX has no felony convictions that would prohibit him from owning weapons.
Earl Simmons, 36, also known as DMX, was not at home when the raid occurred, according to deupties.
The animals were taken to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office M.A.S.H. unit. The facility at the jail is a no-kill animal shelter created to house and care for animals that have been abused or neglected by their caretakers and rescued by the Animal Cruelty Investigative Unit.
DMX has a history of law-enforcement run-ins.
In 1999, during a "Hard Knock Life" tour stop in Denver, he was arrested and later cleared in the stabbing and shooting of his mother.
In 2002, he pleaded guilty to animal cruelty for neglecting 13 pit bulls in his possession.
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