Joe Budden was charged with lewdness on Monday following an incident where his neighbor claimed seeing him “completely naked.”
The Edgewater Police in New Jersey released a statement today (Tuesday) that on Dec. 4, authorities were “dispatched to an apartment complex for the report from a resident that a man was standing outside of their apartment door completely naked. The caller recognized the man as a neighbor, Joseph Budden Jr., a 44-year-old male.”
The caller was alerted of Joe’s presence with help of their ring camera. According to the report, “The video depicted Budden attempting to enter a code into the door keypad several times before reentering his own residence across the hall.”
“These charges are merely accusations,” chief of police Donald A. Martin noted in the press release. “The defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Budden’s attorney, Nima Ameri, told TMZ, “Mr. Budden is saddened by Police Chief Martin’s press release. Mr. Budden has been waiting weeks for his cross complaints to be processed which include substantially more serious charges include possible felony charges against the persons behind these charges against him. The Chief has in our opinion sat on those but instead used his time to gain some free publicity for himself. Chief Martin should seek publicity by doing notable policing not inflaming disorderly person allegations.”
He continued: “The allegations against Mr. Budden are a minor charge, not even resulting in an arrest. A charge Mr. Budden is looking forward to beating in court on the merits, not in the press. The Chief’s comments are reckless, and in our opinion racially motivated. Our research has not shown a single press release on a disorderly person charge on the police website this year. His choice to single out Mr. Budden in our opinion is self motivated and based off of Mr. Budden’s race and celebrity status.”
Earlier this month, Budden had addressed his absence from The Joe Budden Podcast by admitting that he was facing sleepwalking issues again. “I just sleptwalked somewhere I shouldn’t have sleptwalked,” he told his co-hosts. “You know how I sleep — buttass. Nice nakedass. Good naked sleepwalking. I just did it again.”
