A rape charge filed against heavy metal drummer Rikki Rockett has been turned over to the district attorney’s office for possible grand jury consideration, the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Department says.

Rockett, who plays with the 1980s hair band Poison, was arrested this week in Los Angeles on a warrant stemming from the forceable rape complaint, Neshoba sheriff’s investigator Ralph Sciple said Friday.

He said the alleged rape occurred Sept. 23, 2007, at the Silver Star Casino in Philadelphia, Miss. The casino-hotel complex about an hour northeast of Jackson is owned by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.

“The subject, Rikki Rockett, forcibly had sex with an adult in one of the hotel rooms,” according to the complaint filed with the sheriff’s office.

He said the woman contacted authorities several days later. Sciple did not discuss details of the case, but said his office believed the woman’s complaint warranted review by the district attorney.

According to an article on the Web site of the Los Angeles Daily News, police confirmed Rockett was arrested Monday as he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport after getting off a flight from New Zealand, and was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail.

Sciple said there was no immediate attempt to bring Rockett back to Mississippi. He said a decision on extradition would await action by the district attorney.

While he had nothing official that Rockett had been released, Sciple said knew no reason the drummer would still be in custody.