It's a rape case with possible ties to Twitter, MC Hammer, and reality television.
Police have issued an arrest warrant for the "Can't Touch This" rapper's cousin, Marvin Turell Grant, after the man allegedly forced himself on a woman he befriended on Twitter.
Grant is known as "Bigg Marv" on both the message-broadcasting service and the A&E reality television show "Hammertime," which chronicles the life of MC Hammer, a Tracy, Calif. resident.
On Wednesday, the Livermore, Calif., Police Department issued a warrant for Grant's arrest on charges of allegedly sexually assaulting a woman. And authorities say Twitter is at the center of the investigation.
Earlier that morning an unidentified 40-year-old woman from the Los Angeles area came to the Livermore PD to report that she was raped by a man called "Bigg Marv," according to a police report.
Police said the woman began communicating with Grant on a Twitter account. The account @BiggMarv lists a cell phone number in the 310 area code whose voicemail identifies the owner as "Bigg Marv."
Livermore Police Lt. Matt Sarsfield said he would not "confirm or deny" that Grant was on the show.
"It appears he is associated with the show," said Sarsfield. "Let me put it this way. If you compare the photo we sent out with the photo on the site it appears to be the same guy."
Cops said the woman told police she originally began talking with Grant using Twitter, but soon the conversation evolved into phone calls and became "romantic in nature."
Grant told the woman he was filming in Las Vegas and flying back to San Francisco, according to the police report. The woman and Grant then reportedly agreed to meet on Tuesday at a local hotel in Livermore, which is about 20 miles from Manteca, Calif., where Grant lives.
The woman drove to Livermore and rented a hotel room and waited for Grant, who arrived at 10 p.m., according to a police report.
He took the woman to dinner at a nearby restaurant and returned to the hotel. There, the woman claims that Grant began to fondle her, while ignoring her request to stop since "they had just met."
Police said Grant forced his weight onto the woman and pinned her left arm before sexually assaulting her. The woman told police she tried to stop the attack but he was too big for her to move.
Grant then dressed himself and left the hotel without saying anything to the woman, according to a police report.
On Wednesday police were able to speak with Grant on his cell phone, which he encourages anyone on his Twitter account to call "anytime."
Grant told police he would turn himself in but he did not. On Thursday officers spoke to him again and Grant again agreed to turn himself in, this time by 11 a.m., but Sarsfield said he failed to do so again. The Bigg Marv Twitter account has not been updated since Tuesday.
Sarsfield said police believed Grant was trying to leave the country before he was taken into custory at about 2 p.m. on Thursday in rural area of Tracy, where Hammer lives.
The 33-year-old Grant is known on the television show as “Bigg Marv” and “Lyin’ Marv.” Hammer, who lives in Tracy, Calif., described his cousin as "a piece of work" on the show. Calls to Grant's cell phone and an A&E publicist for comment were not returned on Thursday.
