Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine faces possible prison time after admitting to drug possession
By PHILIP MARCELO
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine admitted Wednesday that he violated the conditions of his supervised release from prison by possessing drugs, marking his latest run-in with the law since he completed a federal prison sentence on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
The 29-year-old performer, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, told a Manhattan federal judge that his home in Miami was raided on March 12 and that “residual” cocaine and MDMA — the party drug known as Molly or ecstasy — were found in his bedroom cabinet.
In exchange for the admission, prosecutors agreed to drop two other counts he faced stemming from the incident.
The Brooklyn rapper, who shot to fame with the 2017 release of his song “Gummo,” will be sentenced Sept. 25.
He doesn’t face any state charges related to the raid, but U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer warned him that the “consequences will be severe” if he violates any of the conditions of his release before he is sentenced.
Federal sentencing guidelines call for between three and nine months in prison for each count, but Hernandez could face up to five years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release, the judge added.
The rapper, who was dressed in a black hoodie and who wasn’t sporting his trademark colorful hairstyle, declined to comment as he left the courthouse.
Hernandez pleaded guilty in 2018 to his involvement with a violent New York-based gang, the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.
He was handed a lenient sentence of two years in prison in 2019 followed by five years of supervised release for his cooperation in the prosecution of other gang members.
He was even released from federal prison several months early during the height of COVID-19 pandemic.
But last November, Hernandez was found in violation of his probation for failing to show up for drug tests, traveling to Las Vegas from his Florida home without permission and lying to his probation officer.
At the time, Engelmayer sentenced him to another 45 days in federal custody, saying the infractions showed a lack of respect for the law.
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This story was updated to correct that Hernandez admitted that he violated the terms of his prison release, not that he pleaded guilty to doing so.
