In a bizarre case involving teen YouTube sensation Justin Bieber and a riotous crowd of his fans, a record exec from Island Def Jam Records was arrested Friday for, among other things, failing to Tweet when told to by authorities.

When the Beiber event at Roosevelt Field mall became unruly (video below), police appealed to the artist’s label to send a Tweet telling the crowd to leave. When that allegedly didn’t happen, police arrested James Roppo, a senior vice president of Island Def Jam Records, for “endangering the welfare of a minor and obstructing government administration”.
An Associated Press feed reads:

Police arrested a vice president from Bieber’s record label, Island Def Jam Records, saying he wasn’t cooperating with attempts to disperse the crowd. James Roppo, 44, of Hoboken, N.J., was charged with a series of misdemeanours, including endangering the welfare of children and obstructing governmental administration.

“We asked for his help in getting the crowd to go away by sending out a Twitter message,” said Nassau County Police Det. Lt. Kevin Smith. “By not cooperating with us, we feel he put lives in danger and the public at risk.”

The report doesn’t put the police in a good light, especially considering that Bieber’s feed does contain Tweets asking the crowd to leave.

But all may not be as it seems: contrary to the AP reports, the NY Daily News implies that the arrest was for sending out updates that Bieber was signing autographs even after the crowd had dispersed.

Roppo is pleading not guilty to the charges.

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