US rapper Gibbs cleared of sexual abuse charges in Austria

VIENNA (AP) - An Austrian court on Friday found U.S. rapper Freddie Gibbs not guilty on charges of sexual abuse, ruling there was not enough evidence in the case involving a fan.

Gibbs had been indicted for allegedly exploiting the dazed state of a then 17-year-old woman whose drinks were possibly spiked to sexually abuse her after a nightclub appearance starring the rapper last year.

Gibbs, whose real name is Fredrick Tipton, had denied the accusations.

Absent from the court in Vienna was a bodyguard sought for alleged sexual abuse of a 16-year-old woman who had accompanied the 17-year-old to Gibbs' hotel. He is believed to be somewhere in the United States.

The woman had accused Gibbs after saying that she had a flashback to the incident sparked by a song, nearly a year after it occurred. Defense lawyers for Gibbs cited initial testimony from the two women that only the bodyguard had sex with the younger woman.