UPDATE 11/5/2021 7:15 p.m. ET
The Grammy nominee was released on a $500,000 bond on Friday, November 5, according to documents obtained by Us Weekly. As a condition of his release, he must wear a GPS monitor, submit to random drug testing and surrender his passport. The artist will be allowed to travel as long as he obtains permission from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Original story below:
Fetty Wap was arrested on Thursday, October 28, in relation to federal drug trafficking charges, Us Weekly can confirm.
The “Trap Queen” rapper, whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, was indicted alongside five others on Friday, October 29, in New York City, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York.
The 30-year-old musician was charged with “conspiring to distribute and possess controlled substances,” according to the press release. His arraignment is set for Friday where he will go in front of United States Magistrate Judge Locke at a Brooklyn federal court.
The New Jersey native and the five other defendants allegedly “transported, distributed and sold more than 100 kilograms of deadly and addictive drugs, including heroin and fentanyl, on Long Island, [New York].”
Wap was allegedly a kilogram-level redistributor for the trafficking organization and New Jersey correction officer Anthony Cyntje reportedly transported kilograms of cocaine from Long Island to New Jersey.
The prosecutors claimed that the men were “deliberately contributing to the opioid epidemic that has devastated our communities and taken too many lives.”
A lawyer for Wap told NBC News in a statement on Friday: “We pray that this is all a big misunderstanding. He sees the judge today. Hoping he gets released so we can clear things up expeditiously.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Timothy D. Sini stated on Friday that “these defendants ran a multimillion-dollar bicoastal drug distribution organization with Suffolk County as their home base” and that they “pumped massive quantities of narcotics” into the community.
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll noted that the pipeline of drugs presented in the investigation ran for “thousands of miles” from the West Coast to the greater New York and New Jersey area.
“The fact that we arrested a chart-topping rap artist and a corrections officer as part of the conspiracy illustrates just how vile the drug trade has become,” he said in the press release. “I want to commend the work of our Long Island Gang Task Force and our law enforcement partners for working day in and day out to get these deadly drugs off our streets.”
Search warrants executed during the investigation “resulted in the recovery of approximately $1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of heroin, numerous fentanyl pills,” in addition to multiple handguns, a rifle, two pistols and ammunition, per the press release.
According to an indictment filed on September 29, the “No Days Off” singer was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances. The other five men, however, were charged with an additional count of use of firearms in connection with a drug trafficking crime.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of life imprisonment.
Wap previously got into trouble with the law when he was arrested in June 2019 on three counts of battery. TMZ reported in January 2020 that the L.A. County District Attorney’s office dropped the case, citing insufficient evidence.
Two years prior, he was taken into custody for street racing and driving while intoxicated. The musician pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment, agreeing to take a state impaired driving program course and giving up the use of his license for 90 days, Page Six reported in March 2018. He was also reportedly required to pay a $500 fine, but avoided jail time for the DWI.
