NBA YoungBoy will serve time in federal prison after he accepted a plea deal for his prescription drug fraud case.
On Monday morning, November 18, the accomplished rapper, born Kentrell Gaulden, appeared before a judge in Logan, Utah and answered to 10 of 46 charges he originally faced. As part of a plea deal, Gaulden pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree felony identity fraud, two counts of third-degree felony forgery, and six counts of misdemeanor unlawful pharmacy conduct. According to ABC4, the four felony charges he pleaded guilty to were reduced to Class A Misdemeanors. Gaulden pleaded “no contest” to all the other charges.
After he entered his plea, Judge Spencer Walsh handed down Gaulden's sentence. The 25-year-old artist avoided additional prison time in Utah. However, he was ordered to serve the 27-month sentence he received in September for a separate federal gun case. Once he's released from prison, he will be required to serve five years on federal probation. He was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.
“This is somewhat of a unique case where there have been multiple jurisdictions involved both in the federal and the state systems,” said state prosecutor Ronnie Keller. “This is just really a smaller cog in the bigger wheel of ultimately seeking justice.”
Gaulden was convicted of running a prescription drug ring out of his Huntsville home while he was on house arrest. As part of the scheme, prosecutors say he allegedly posed as a doctor and scammed pharmacies to illegally obtain prescriptions for promethazine with codeine. Police raided his home earlier this year as part of a broader investigation into the alleged operation. During their search, police discovered a Sig Sauer P365 9mm pistol inside the home. Gaulden was charged with illegally possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
In September, Gaulden answered to the recent gun possession charge and a 2020 gun possession charge that was transferred from Louisiana to Utah. He pleaded guilty to unlawfully transporting a firearm in both federal cases and received his 27-month sentence as a result.