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Fetty Wap pleads guilty to federal drug charge, faces at least 5-year sentence

By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
By Kelli Dugan, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. — Rapper Fetty Wap pleaded guilty Monday to a federal drug charge carrying a minimum five-year prison sentence.

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Prosecutors alleged that the rapper, whose legal name is Willie Junior Maxwell II, participated in “a multimillion-dollar bicoastal drug distribution organization” responsible for shipping more than 100 kilos of heroin, fentanyl and cocaine from California to New York for distribution, according to Billboard.

Fetty Wap arrested on federal drug trafficking charge

Maxwell, 31, entered his plea in the Eastern District of New York’s Long Island courthouse two weeks after U.S. Magistrate Judge Steven Locke revoked the rapper’s $500,000 bond following his Aug. 8 arrest on suspicion of calling someone on FaceTime and threatening to kill them while brandishing a weapon, The Washington Post reported.

Fetty Wap jailed, accused of holding gun, making death threat on FaceTime

The “Trap Queen” performer was one of six people arrested on the conspiratorial drug charges in October, according to the newspaper.

Sentencing guidelines on Maxwell’s drug charge call for a prison sentence of between seven and nine years, Billboard reported.

According to the Post, two of Maxwell’s co-defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess controlled substances. One of them also confessed to using firearms in connection with drug trafficking.

Billboard identified Maxwell’s five co-defendants as Anthony Leonardi, Robert Leonardi, Brian Sullivan, Kavaughn Wiggins and Anthony Cyntje, a New Jersey corrections officer. Leonardi pleaded guilty to the drug charge in June, while Cyntje pleaded guilty to both the drug and firearms charges at that time.

“The fact that we arrested a chart-topping rap artist and a corrections officer as part of the conspiracy illustrates just how vile the drug trade has become,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll said in a prepared statement at the time of the October arrests, according to the entertainment news site.

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Photos: Fetty Wap through the years 2015: Fetty Wap performs during Billboard Hot 100 Festival - Day 2 at Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on August 23, 2015, in Wantagh, New York. (Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Billboard)

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