Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Rapper Black facing new state gun charges
Days after sentencing, new gun charges filed against musical artist in Miami-Dade County
It’s been a bad week for Kodak Black. After being sentenced on Wednesday to three years and 10 months in federal prison, officials on Friday in Miami-Dade have filed new state gun charges against the rapper.
State court documents charge Black with two counts of being a felon in possession of a weapon. The charge is a second-degree felony in Florida, carrying a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. The charge also carries a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison if the accused was arrested while actually in possession of a firearm.
The first charge against Black does not significantly differ from the federal charge for which he was just sentenced. According to the state, Black bought or tried to buy guns and ammo at Lou’s Police Supply in Hialeah on two separate occasions. But Black has a felony conviction for armed robbery in Florida from 2013. So the state alleges he had no right to purchase or posses a firearm.
Officials from the State Attorney’s Office also say that the second charge stems from the fact that Black was allegedly found to be in possession of a firearm on the night of his May arrest before the Rolling Loud music festival.
Officials noted that the weapon was not one of the ones purchased by Black at Lou’s.
Black is currently in federal custody, and his legal troubles only keep multiplying.
Authorities in the 13th Judicial Circuit of South Carolina want Black sent there to stand trial on a charge of criminal sexual conduct stemming from an alleged 2016 rape of an adult-aged high school girl. If convicted in that case, Black faces a possible maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
On Wednesday, federal officials in South Florida indicated that they intend to bring a prison brawl, in which Black allegedly assaulted a corrections officer, before a grand jury. Black could be charged with assaulting a federal officer while in the line of duty, a crime which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Black’s attorney, Brad Cohen, couldn’t be reached for comment late Friday.