Rapper Pooh Shiesty to serve over five years in prison after gun conviction in Miami

Rapper Pooh Shiesty is headed to federal prison for over five years after his conviction stemming from a shooting outside of a Bay Harbor Islands hotel.

The 22-year-old hitmaker, whose real name is Lontrell Williams Jr., was sentenced Wednesday — more than three months after he pleaded guilty for conspiring to use a firearm in a series of shootings in Miami-Dade County and Tennessee.

He pleaded guilty in January to conspiring to possess firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence and drug trafficking.

Miami U.S. Judge K. Michael Moore sentenced him Wednesday after a two-hour-plus hearing, which was attended by executives from Atlantic Records and rapper Gucci Mane.

Williams, who hails from Memphis, Tennessee, is part of rapper Gucci Mane’s 1017 Records label and also has a platinum single known in the streets as “Back in Blood.”

But Williams has spent the past year behind bars after state and federal authorities said he took part in a series of shootings.

In July 2020, Williams was with a person who fired a gun inside a car at a gas station in Memphis, Tennessee.

Then in October 2020, Williams and two other men, Bobby Brown and Jayden Darosa, arranged to buy marijuana and high-end sneakers from two men at the Landon Hotel in Bay Harbor Islands. During the deal, Williams and Brown shot the two men — one in the hip and the other in the rear end.

He was eventually arrested on state charges, with the feds eventually taking over the case. A few months later, he was again in trouble with the law on Memorial Day weekend 2021. Williams shot a security guard in the leg at the King of Diamonds strip club in Northwest Miami-Dade.

Under the plea agreement, the government was calling for 97 months in prison, although the judge ultimately went lower after hearing legal arguments from defense attorneys Bradford Cohen and Saam Zangeneh.

“The judge listened to our lengthy arguments, took notes and carefully considered everything and we appreciate that diligence,” Cohen wrote on his Instagram page. “He had a lot of support ... a full courtroom of family friends.”

Darosa had already been sentenced to 96 months behind bars. Brown was sentenced Wednesday to 56 months in prison.

This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 10:08 PM.