PHOENIX -- A chunky textured substance seized from the Phoenix-area bedroom of rapper DMX was not an illegal drug, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said.
"We're still looking at what type of powder that is," Arpaio said.
"But we did seize a useable quantity of marijuana. He does have a drug situation there," he said.
Sheriff's deputies found three dead dogs, guns, ammunition and drug paraphernalia at his Cave Creek residence Friday during an investigation into claims of animal cruelty.
VIEW SLIDESHOW: Deputies Raid Home Of DMXNo charges have been filed and no one has been arrested.
Arpaio said officers were working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine whether DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was legally permitted to possess the weapons.
Authorities were looking into how the dogs died. Two of the dead dogs have been sent to Atlanta for autopsies. A medical examiner agreed to do the work for free.
Deputies found 12 other dogs that appeared malnourished. But none looked like they had been used for fighting, Arpaio said.
Sheriff's deputies made a series of visits to the rapper's home after an Aug. 7 report of neglected pit bulls.
They found a man caring for several dogs during an Aug. 22 visit but he told them he was going on vacation and didn't know who would replace him, according to a search warrant affidavit.
The man, identified as Brad Blackwell, said he had only agreed to take care of the dogs for a couple of days until DMX could find someone else.
According to the affidavit, deputies were told that DMX's manager had been sending him money for dog food through Western Union.
The animals were taken to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office M.A.S.H. unit. The facility at the jail is a no-kill animal shelter created to house and care for animals that have been abused or neglected by their caretakers and rescued by the Animal Cruelty Investigative Unit.
Neighbors said they haven't seen DMX for several months.
DMX has a history of law-enforcement run-ins.
In 1999, during a "Hard Knock Life" tour stop in Denver, he was arrested and later cleared in the stabbing and shooting of his mother.
In 2002, he pleaded guilty to animal cruelty for neglecting 13 pit bulls in his possession.
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