Kodak Black faces 10 years for weapons charge
Rap star Kodak Black could be sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison Wednesday.
The South Florida musician, whose 2018 album “Dying to Live” debuted at No. 1 on the billboard charts, has been in custody at the federal detention center in Miami since May. At just 23 years of age, Kodak’s constant run-ins with the law threaten to derail his breakout musical career, and the federal sentence he’s about to receive in Miami might just be the one that sends him away for years.
Kodak — whose legal name is Bill Kapri, but who was born Dieuson Octave — pleaded guilty in his South Florida federal case this October, essentially admitting to the court that he had lied when purchasing or trying to purchase six pistols on two separate occasions at Lou’s Police and Security Equipment in Hialeah.
Kodak was arrested over the summer just as he was about to perform at a Rolling Loud, a local music festival. Court documents reveal that two of the three weapons he managed to purchase were found at crime scenes.
One of the guns he purchased from the weapons shop was found at the scene of an apparent Pompano shooting last March. Court documents state that the gun was jammed, loaded with live ammunition, and bore Kodak’s fingerprints.
The weapon, a Sig model MPZK9 automatic pistol, looks more like an Uzi than a handgun, and court documents allege that the intended target of the shooting was a rival rap artist, though the documents do not reveal the target’s identity.
The documents do state, however, that a Porsche Panamera rented by Kodak was at the scene at the time of the altercation. Authorities didn’t charge Kodak in the shooting.
The first time Kodak went in to buy the guns last February, he wrote down an incorrect Social Security number and marked “no” on the sections of a federal form that asked if he was ineligible to buy a gun.
Kodak, who was already under indictment in a separate criminal case in South Carolina, was out on bond for that case when he pur
chased the three handguns. He would not have been allowed to buy the weapons had he been truthful on the form.
Kodak went back to Lou’s on March first to purchase another three guns, but this time he used his correct Social Security number on the background-check documents.
When employees at Lou’s checked it against a database, Kodak’s criminal record came up, and he was told he could not buy the guns.
A second weapon that Kodak purchased at Lou’s was found in the trunk of his vehicle as the rapper and his entourage attempted to
cross the border into Canada last April. Authorities say they also found marijuana when they searched the vehicle.
Federal agents arrested Kodak on May 11 as he arrived at the Miami Gardens Hard Rock Stadium to perform at the Rolling Loud Music festival. A federal magistrate judge initially granted him a $550,000 dollar bond, but U.S. Attorney’s appealed that decision, arguing that he presented a danger to the community, because two of the weapons he purchased had been found at crime scenes.
U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno sided with prosecutors, and ordered that Kodak be held without bond.
Sentencing documents filed by Kodak’s attorney’s indicate that the rapper may receive a relatively light sentence Wednesday. The documents state that prosecutors have asked that the judge sentence Kodak to three years and eight months in prison.
Kodak has a history with the legal system. In addition to his Florida legal troubles, he is currently facing a federal charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in South Carolina.
That charge arises from his alleged 2016 rape of an adult age high-school student, and carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Kodak is still awaiting trial on the rape charges in South Carolina.
Attorneys for Kodak could not be reached for comment.