Prosecution rests in rap musician’s drug, gang trial
Witnesses detailed trafficking
Prosecutors rested the government’s case Thursday in the drug conspiracy trial of an Arkansas rap artist after two full days of testimony in which witnesses provided a jury with details about how the two-year investigation into drug trafficking and gang violence in Central Arkansas unfolded.
Freddie Gladney III, who performs under the stage name, “Bankroll Freddie,” was indicted in November 2022 on multiple drug and firearms counts, including one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, two counts of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, three counts of making false statements to obtain a firearm, two counts of possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, one count of possession of machine guns and one count of use of a communications facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
The case is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys Julie Peters, Amanda Fields and Stephen Reese Lancaster and is being presided over by U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr.
Gladney’s defense team is made up of Benton defense attorneys Bobby Digby II and Mack Ivy.
On Thursday, a jury of seven women and four men heard testimony from case agents and crime lab personnel detailing how the investigation unfolded and how evidence from the case was obtained, stored and examined throughout the investigation. Employees of three different gun stores testified regarding the purchases of five firearms a federal grand jury charged Gladney with buying through another individual, identified as Braxton Lewis Green, on May 26, 27 and 28, 2021.
Green, of Little Rock, a friend of Gladney’s who figured prominently in parts of the FBI investigation, died Sept. 19, 2021, in a hospital in Shreveport at the age of 30.
Jeff Elenbaas, a North Little Rock police detective and FBI GETRock task force officer, detailed for the jury items that were seized during a search of Gladney’s Little Rock home on May 25, 2021. Taken in the search were numerous firearms, including a Norinco SKS rifle, a Diamondback rifle with attached flashlight, assorted firearms and components including a laser sight, ammunition and magazines, marijuana, scales and a currency counter. Several of the weapons recovered were loaded, Elenbaas told Fields, including an extended magazine recovered from a nightstand next to Gladney’s bed and a pistol box containing a loaded magazine recovered from underneath the bed.
Asked by Digby if any of the firearms recovered during the search were illegal to own, Elenbaas said no.
“Every gun,” Digby said, “without exception, that you just testified about, is legal to own?”
“Correct,” Elenbaas replied.
“Every magazine you testified about is legal to own?” Digby asked.
“Correct,” Elenbaas repeated.
“And the laser sight, that is also legal isn’t it?” Digby asked. “In fact, I think you can buy them on Amazon, can’t you?”
“I’m sure you probably could,” Elenbaas said.
“It’s not illegal to keep a loaded weapon in your house, is it?” Digby then asked.
“That’s correct,” Elenbaas said.
Asked if investigators had any proof that tied Gladney to the currency counter, which investigators said are often used by drug traffickers to count large amounts of cash quickly, Elenbaas said he thought he had seen Gladney use it in a music video.
“That same counter?” Digby asked.
“I can’t say that,” Elenbaas responded.
Digby pointed out that, on the day of the search, there were a large number of people and vehicles congregated at Gladney’s house, and that pistols seized from two of them actually belonged to Gladney’s father and brother. Of Gladney’s three vehicles — a Lamborghini, a Dodge Challenger and a Chevrolet Corvette, all purple in color — only a single pistol magazine was recovered from the Challenger. Elenbaas confirmed that no drugs or guns were found in any of Gladney’s vehicles.
“But you found weapons in other peoples’ vehicles?” he asked.
“Yes,” Elenbaas replied. Hannah Russell, a forensic chemist with the State Crime Lab, testified that the marijuana found in the search weighed just under one pound and tested positive for Delta-9 THC.
Fields also provided text message transcripts and played recordings of phone calls of Gladney and others talking about the search as it was going on and later that evening.
Following the conclusion of the government’s proof, Moody denied motions by Digby for a judgment of acquittal on all counts except the use of a communications device in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, saying that prosecutors had failed to establish that Gladney had participated in a conspiracy and that no definite link between Gladney and the sale of marijuana to anyone but a select group of friends had been proven. The guns that were seized in the May 25, 2021, search, he said, could have belonged to just about anyone who was there at the time.
“The only testimony regarding any of these weapons was that they were found in a house he had some ties to,” Digby said.
As for weapons found in Gladney’s vehicle during an April 14, 2022, traffic stop near Marion, Digby said, prosecutors had only proven that the weapons were in the vehicle but said they had failed to tie the weapons to drug trafficking or to a conspiracy. He said there was also no link proven between the approximately 18 pounds of marijuana found during that traffic stop to a conspiracy or to any intent on Gladney’s part to distribute it.
Court resumes at 9 a.m. Friday as Digby and Ivy put on their defense. It is not known if Gladney will testify.