Rapper Juvenile posts bond after drug arrest

New Orleans rapper Juvenile was arrested on a drug charge and released from a northern Louisiana jail after posting bond, police said Sunday.

Sterlington Police Sgt. Jacob Greer said that Juvenile, whose real name is Terius Gray, was charged with simple possession of marijuana and driving on a suspended license.

Greer said he pulled over Gray's car about 10:55 p.m. Saturday after clocking it at 75 mph in a 65 mph zone and for passing in the right lane, which is illegal in Louisiana. He was released a short time later after posting a $750 cash bond.

Greer said after he stopped the 35-year-old rapper, he smelled marijuana and Gray handed over small bag of it when asked.

Greer said the suspended license appeared when police checked his name with law enforcement records. Both charges are misdemeanors.

"He was very courteous and respectful as he could be. He asked me if I recognized him, and I said `No. Now if you were George Strait I'll probably have recognized you,'" Greer said.

There was no phone listing for Gray in New Orleans. Greer said he did not know whether Gray had an attorney.

The rapper has an April 1 court date in Sterlington, located north of Monroe in northern Louisiana.

Juvenile, best known for the song "Back That Thing Up," has been arrested at least five times on charges ranging from failure to pay child support to resisting an officer at a Florida mall in 1999. Most of the charges have been dismissed. In 2003, he was sentenced to community service for hitting a man on the head with a champagne bottle.

In August 2010, he pleaded guilty in Saint Bernard Parish to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. He received a suspended sentence of three months in jail and was given six months probation and paid a $250 fine and court costs.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects that he was released Saturday night, not Sunday.)