Rapper Flesh-N-Bone faces new criminal charges

Prosecutors have charged Stanley Howse, one of the founding members of the rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, with gun possession by a felon, the latest in a series of legal troubles for the popular Grammy-winning rapper.

Known as Flesh-N-Bone, Howse was pulled over April 2 in Santa Clarita by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies, who noticed that a brake light was out on his car, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Howse, 35, who is on parole, was then subjected to a search of his vehicle and his Canyon Country home.

There, deputies recovered a 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol that Howse told deputies belonged to his wife, who in turn told authorities that she was a Chicago police officer, according to sources familiar with the case.

Howse was arrested and arraigned April 6 on the weapons charge as well as possession of ammunition and misdemeanor drug possession. He pleaded not guilty and is due back in court Thursday.

Prosecutors said Howse has five prior felony convictions dating back more than a decade that include assault with a semiautomatic weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon and assault likely to produce great bodily injury.

His first scrape with the law was in 1997, when police went to his home in Chatsworth after receiving reports of gunshots about 1 a.m. on July 4.

Howse and another man turned over several explosives, including what one Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad officer testified was a device 270 times more powerful than a firecracker. During the police search, authorities said they also found an assault rifle, handguns and several shotguns, along with four spent shotgun shells.

In addition, police recovered a weapon that allegedly was stolen during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Soon after the arrests, defense lawyers contended their clients were celebrating Independence Day “a little early.”

Further investigation revealed that Howse had threatened to kill a neighbor who was a witness against him in the firecracker case, police and prosecutors said.

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andrew.blankstein @latimes.com