Rapper NBA YoungBoy is held on $100K bail in Utah prescription fraud case

LOGAN, Utah (AP) — A judge in Utah has set a $100,000 bond for rapper NBA YoungBoy, who faces dozens of charges involving a fraudulent prescription operation he allegedly orchestrated.

The 24-year-old rap artist, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, appeared Thursday before Judge Spencer D. Walsh in a Cache County, Utah, court for the bond hearing, KUTV-TV reported.

Gaulden was arrested April 16 at his home in Huntsville, where he was on house arrest while awaiting trial on federal weapons charges. He faces 63 felonies and misdemeanors related to the fraudulent prescription operation, which included identity fraud, obtaining a prescription under false pretenses, forgery, possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, and possession of a controlled substance.

Three others linked to the case are accused of traveling to nearby pharmacies to pick up prescriptions for pills that had been filled on bogus orders from people pretending to be real doctors.

The defense informed Walsh that the state agreed to a $100,000 bond in exchange for his waiving a preliminary hearing, where the state would have to convince a judge that a crime was committed and that it was committed by the defendant. His arraignment was set for July 1 at which time he will enter a plea, the television station reported.

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“You’ll be brought over from the Cache County Jail assuming you’re still incarcerated,” Walsh said.

On April 26, additional charges related to the prescription fraud case were filed against Gaulden in Weber County, including a second-degree felony count of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person and two Class A misdemeanor counts of distributing a controlled substance. He was held without bond in that case.

Authorities said Gaulden will at some point be transferred back to federal custody in the U.S. Middle District Court of Louisiana where he faces a July 15 trial on a possession of a firearm charge in Baton Rouge. U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, who is presiding over the federal case, signed an order May 2 postponing the trial to a date yet to be determined as several pending motions in the case play out, court records show.

The weapons charge stems from a 2020 music video shoot. Baton Rouge police rounded up Gaulden and 15 others after swarming the video shoot and finding pistols and assault rifles hidden in the area, arrest reports indicate.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorneys office in Baton Rouge confirmed Thursday that when Gaulden is ultimately released from Utah state custody he’ll be detained by federal authorities, The Advocate reported.