Snoop Dogg caught with weapon at airport

(AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

IRVINE, Calif. - Prosecutors are considering charges against Snoop Dogg after authorities discovered a 21-inch collapsible baton in his bags as he boarded a New York-bound flight, authorities said Monday.

The rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, had the baton in his laptop case as he went through a security checkpoint at John Wayne International Airport on Sept. 27, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Snoop Dogg, 35, told sheriff's deputies that the baton was a prop for a movie he was filming in New York, Amormino said.

"He had a collapsible baton and it is classified as a dangerous weapon," Amormino said, adding that the stick collapsed to eight inches.

District attorney spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder said her office received the sheriff's report on Monday. She said prosecutors had not yet decided whether to charge Snoop Dogg, who was not arrested.

It wasn't the first time the rapper has had a problem at an airport.

In May, he accepted responsibility for using "threatening words or behavior" in an April brawl at Heathrow Airport in London. Snoop Dogg and five other men were arrested on charges of violent disorder and starting a brawl after some members of the rapper's party were denied entry to British Airways' first-class lounge.

Seven officers received minor injuries — mainly cuts and bruises — and one suffered a fracture to the hand.

British Airways has banned Snoop Dogg from future travel on the airline, it said last month.

Snoop Dogg was convicted in 1990 of cocaine possession and was charged with gun possession after a 1993 traffic stop. Facing a possible three years in prison, he pleaded guilty in exchange for three years' probation and his promise to make anti-violence public service announcements.

He also was acquitted of murder in 1996 following the death of an alleged street gang member killed by gunfire from the vehicle Snoop Dogg was traveling in.

Snoop Dogg's 1993 album "Doggystyle" sold 5 million copies.