Fetty Wap Pleads Guilty, Faces Minimum of 5 Years

Rapper pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 9, 2022 12:30 AM CDT
Updated Aug 22, 2022 5:04 PM CDT
Rapper Fetty Wap Violated Conditions of Release via FaceTime: Prosecutors
Fetty Wap appears at the MTV Video Music Awards in Newark, N.J. on Aug. 26, 2019.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Update: Rapper Fetty Wap pleaded guilty Monday to a conspiracy drug charge that carries a mandatory five-year prison sentence, admitting that he participated in a massive drug trafficking racket that moved drugs from the West Coast to Long Island. The plea came before US Magistrate Judge Steven Locke, who revoked his bond and sent him to jail two weeks ago, the AP reports. After the plea, the rapper was returned to jail to await sentencing. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances, the top charge in an indictment against him. It carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison while federal sentencing guidelines are likely to recommend about two additional years in prison. Our story from August 8 follows:

Rapper Fetty Wap was jailed Monday after, prosecutors say, he threatened to kill a man during a FaceTime call in 2021, violating the terms of his pretrial release in a pending federal drug conspiracy case, the AP reports. Wap, whose real name is Willie Maxwell, told the man, “Imma kill you and everybody you with,” and flashed a gun during the Dec. 11 video call about two months after his arrest in the drug case, prosecutors said. US Magistrate Judge Steven Locke, acting on a request from prosecutors, revoked Maxwell’s bond and sent him to jail following a hearing Monday in federal court on Long Island.

Messages seeking comment were left with Maxwell’s lawyers. The Trap Queen rapper is scheduled to perform in Mobile, Alabama, on Aug. 19 and Austin, Texas, on Aug. 27, according to his website. Maxwell was initially arrested last October on charges alleging he participated in a conspiracy to smuggle large amounts of heroin, fentanyl and other drugs into the New York City area. Maxwell, who pleaded not guilty, was released after posting a $500,000 bond, secured by property he owns in Georgia, and agreeing to certain conditions, including that he not violate any federal, state or local laws while on release and that he not possess a gun or other weapon.

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Prosecutors say evidence, including a recording of the FaceTime call, showed probable cause that Maxwell knowingly violated the conditions of his release. During the call, Maxwell repeatedly threatened, “I’m gonna kill you” and was seen holding a gun and pointing it at the screen, according to an FBI affidavit filed on the court docket. After the man on the other end of the call called Maxwell a rat, Maxwell responded by saying, “Your man is a rat,” according to the affidavit. Maxwell has had other brushes with the law, including a 2019 arrest in Las Vegas for allegedly assaulting three employees at a hotel-casino. He was previously arrested in November 2017 and charged with DUI after police said he was drag racing on a New York City highway.

(More Fetty Wap stories.)

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