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Justin Bieber's Manager Arrested Over Long Island Mall Mob

March 24, 2010 10:56 AM ET

Justin Bieber's manager Scot "Scooter" Braun has turned himself in to police on two misdemeanor charges this morning. The charges — of reckless endangerment and obstruction of governmental administration — stem from an event in Garden City, New York, last November, where a performance at Long Island's Roosevelt Field mall drew a mob of thousands of teenage fans. Braun, 28, could face up to one year in jail if convicted, but his laywer, Ravi Batra, tells Rolling Stone that his client will plead not guilty and that he expects the case to be resolved quickly.

Check out footage from Bieber's "Never Let You Go" video shoot.

The event got out of control when around 3,000 fans showed up to the in-store appearance. Thirty-five Nassau County Police units were dispatched to the event to control the chaos. Jim Roppo, a top executive for Bieber's label Island Def Jam who was at the event, was arrested for sending out Internet messages that Bieber was signing autographs — even after the event had gotten out of control. Police called Braun and asked him to send out Tweets that the event had been canceled, but prosecutors believe he did not act fast enough. (The prosecution says it took Braun one-and-a-half hours to post the tweets; his lawyer says it took Braun seven minutes.) "Within seven minutes [of the phone call], Scooter got himself to a Twitter to put out the first tweet," Braun's lawyer, Ravi Batra, tells Rolling Stone. "The seven minute compliance time was as fast as humanly possible. It could only have been faster if Scooter had a Superman cape."

Braun surrendered himself to Williston Park, Long Island police at 8 a.m. this morning and will be arraigned this afternoon. Braun's lawyer, who expects his client to be released today on his own recognizance, will ask D.A. Kathleen Rice to reopen the investigation and request that the D.A. dismiss the charges. "He's a hard-working clean kid," he says.

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