by Joal Ryan
June 22, 1998, 12:55 p.m. PT

More trouble for Bobby Brown.

Whitney Houston's bad-boy hubby is free on bail after being busted by Beverly Hills cops Sunday. The rap this time: Investigation for misdemeanor sexual battery.

Police are mum on details regarding the alleged incident.

This much is known: The 31-year-old singer was placed under citizen's arrest by an unidentified person at 4:15 p.m. at the posh Beverly Hills Hotel, according to authorities.

Cops arriving on the scene took Brown into custody and booked him at the local jail. He was released from custody at about 8 p.m.

"I wouldn't hurt nobody. I wouldn't touch nobody," the onetime King of New Jack Swing told reporters upon being sprung.

Brown is due in court on the charge on July 17.

Pop diva Houston, 34, was in New Jersey during Brown's latest scrape with the law. The couple, oft-rumored to be on the outs, are to mark their sixth wedding anniversary next month. They have one child, a daughter.

Just last January, Brown was convicted of drunken driving in Florida.

In 1995, the ex-New Edition teen idol was arrested following a nightclub brawl, also in Florida. Criminal charges in that case were dropped. But only after Brown paid out money to his alleged victim.

Before he became a poster man for bad behavior, the entertainer reigned the pop charts with the hit, "My Prerogative."