T.I. Arrested, to Appear in Court on Weapons Charges

Rapper T.I. is scheduled to make his initial court appearance Monday following his weekend arrest on weapons charges.

The 27-year-old rapper, real name Clifford Harris, faces allegations from federal officials that he planned to pick up machine guns and silencers that he had his bodyguard buy for him.

Agents with the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested T.I. Saturday in midtown Atlanta. Authorities say other guns were found in his car and in his suburban Atlanta home.

T.I. / Clifford Harris is charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, as well as possession of firearms by a convicted felon.

Continuing a hot streak of famous arrests of Atlanta-area stars (Michael Vick), the T.I. arrest resulted from an investigation that began when a federal firearms dealer contacted the ATF about a man inquiring about buying a machine gun without registering the weapon as required.

After attempting to purchase several machine guns from an undercover ATF agent, the unnamed individual â€" who said he'd been working as a bodyguard for Clifford Harris since July 2007 â€" was arrested and began cooperating with the government and said that he was buying them for Harris.

Harris allegedly brokered the deals through the bodyguard because T.I. is a convicted felon. It is a violation of federal law for a convicted felon to have another person purchase or acquire firearms on his behalf.

Saturday's arrest came just hours before the BET Hip-Hop Awards. T.I., who is co-chief executive of Grand Hustle Records, won two awards. No word on whether he beat out L'il Wayne and Snoop Dogg for Best Arrest.