HOUSTON \u2013 A woman who initially said she was locked in a closet for days and sexually assaulted by rapper Cartel Bo \u2014 also known as Warren Brown \u2014 has now taken back her allegations, according to his defense team. <\/p>\n
But prosecutors said she may have done it under pressure while Judge Kelli Johnson is deciding whether to give Brown a bond.<\/p>\n
A photo shown in court Monday revealed bruises covering the woman\u2019s legs. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors say they came from beatings while Brown\u2019s defense team claims they were caused by rough sex and her work as a dancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe allegations are very salacious, but allegations are just that,\u201d said defense attorney Samuel Milledge II.<\/p>\n
What prosecutors say happened<\/p>\n
Brown is accused of kidnapping the mother of his children and holding her inside a closet at a home on Darby Retreat Lane in Cypress for several days in July. Harris County Constable Precinct 4 investigators say she escaped wearing only her underwear and handcuffs.<\/p>\n
She flagged down a neighbor and claimed to have been sexually assaulted, according to a search warrant. Inside the home, investigators found a urine-soaked mattress and rotten food, among other evidence they allege indicated a person had been restrained without consent or by force.<\/p>\n
When Brown got arrested during a traffic stop on July 25 on warrants involving an alleged assault of the same woman, she was able to escape from the home only after realizing he was gone, according to court records.<\/p>\n
She later was found at a Waffle House, according to the search warrant, and taken to the hospital by EMS.<\/p>\n
As part of a video statement she provided to the defense team, she repeatedly claimed to have been pressured by law enforcement to make a statement and pressured by EMS to go to the hospital.<\/p>\n
She also signed a notarized affidavit of non-prosecution, according to Milledge, which was provided to the court on Monday.<\/p>\n
Why prosecutors say the recantation may not be genuine<\/p>\n
Prosecutors allege that before Monday\u2019s hearing, Brown used another inmate\u2019s credentials to make jail calls to the victim \u2014 urging her to sign an affidavit of non-prosecution and record a video statement recanting her claims.<\/p>\n
The calls were not played in court and Milledge said he still needs to listen to them to verify if it\u2019s his client on the phone.<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s defense team relied heavily during the bond hearing on the victim recanting and claims she was forced by law enforcement to make her original statement while under the influence, according to what she has allegedly told the defense team.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors also allege the victim is financially dependent on Brown and that the two have a pattern of domestic violence.<\/p>\n
Expert says recantations in domestic violence cases are common<\/p>\n
Houston trauma therapist Chau Nguyen said what\u2019s happening in this case is not unusual.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s actually a lot more common than you think, and it\u2019s actually quite alarming,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cWe do know in cases of domestic violent when two people are involved and then law enforcement gets involved and the victim shares his or her testimony, oftentimes that testimony gets reneged, recanted. They soften the testimony, they don\u2019t want to talk to prosecutors anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nguyen explained what typically keeps victims from leaving abusive situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always look at two barriers to leaving an emotionally domestic violence situation. And those barriers oftentimes involve kids and money,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors noted the victim is financially dependent on Brown. <\/p>\n
Where the bond hearing stands<\/p>\n
Brown\u2019s defense team is pushing for bond in this case and is pointing to the victim\u2019s recantation as evidence the alleged crimes didn\u2019t happen, while also claiming the state didn\u2019t prove he\u2019s a danger to the community, law enforcement, and the victim.<\/p>\n
The defense also noted Brown has a criminal history, and despite cutting off his ankle monitor and fleeing to Miami while on bond during a past case, they said he otherwise has shown up for all of his court settings.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors urged Judge Johnson to deny bond \u2014 arguing that if Brown is released, the only question is what happens to the victim next.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to let these things play out. I ask everybody to not rush to judgment,\u201d Milledge said.<\/p>\n
A decision from Judge Johnson is pending. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 A woman who initially said she was locked in a closet for days and sexually assaulted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[139418,294,9189,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-396847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-cartel-bo","tag-crime","tag-domestic-violence","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}