Singer Vanilla Ice, Guard Arrested in Gun Case

Rap music star Vanilla Ice and a bodyguard were arrested Monday after the tough-talking singer brandished a handgun at a transient trying to sell him jewelry in the parking lot of a Studio City supermarket, police said.

The transient then called police to report a robbery because he believed that the singer and his three bodyguards were planning a holdup of the Ralphs grocery store at Laurel Canyon and Ventura boulevards, Sgt. Christopher Vasquez said.

When two patrol cars arrived, officers found that the robbery call was a false alarm, but took the 23-year-old singer, whose legal name is Robert Van Winkle, and bodyguard Aaron Eric Martin, 22, into custody on misdemeanor gun charges.

Van Winkle and Martin were released on their own recognizance about 4:30 a.m. after being booked, fingerprinted and photographed at the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood station jail.

The singer was booked on suspicion of brandishing a firearm and Martin on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon, Vasquez said. If convicted, Van Winkle could face up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for brandishing the gun. Martin could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Van Winkle’s arrest prompted a deluge of press calls to the North Hollywood station. Lt. Pat Conmay said about 30 news organizations from around the country--and several from England--had telephoned by midafternoon for information on the arrest.

Investigators said the singer and a bodyguard were sitting in a car in the grocery store parking lot about 2:15 a.m. and waiting for two other bodyguards who were shopping inside when the transient offered to sell them a necklace. Van Winkle, sitting in the passenger seat of the Jeep Cherokee, reportedly showed a 9-millimeter handgun to the man and said, “Get . . . away from me.”

The transient, whose name was not released, obliged, but called police from a nearby pay phone.

Officers searched the car and found the semiautomatic pistol under the driver’s seat, Vasquez said. A search of Martin revealed a 9-millimeter handgun in a waist pouch, Vasquez said. Martin and Van Winkle were handcuffed and taken to jail in a patrol car.

Investigators said the guns had not been returned Monday afternoon because it was unclear whether the pair had the proper permits.

The other two bodyguards were not arrested or identified.

Van Winkle, living in Studio City while his movie “Cool As Ice” is being filmed, could not be reached for comment.

But his lawyer, Larry Friedman of Dallas, disputed the police account.

Friedman said the singer asked the transient several times to leave him alone.

But the transient refused and began arguing with Van Winkle, who again asked the man to leave. When the transient became combative someone in the car--not the singer--displayed the gun and ordered the transient away, Friedman said.

He said Van Winkle “only and always acts as a gentleman,” and declined to place blame on the only other person in the car.

In 1988, Van Winkle was sentenced to a year of probation and fined for attacking a teen-ager in the parking lot of a Dallas supermarket.

In that case, he reportedly sprayed a chemical irritant into the eyes of the teen-ager, then beat him over the head and chased him and another youth across the parking lot. Friedman contended that Van Winkle was provoked.