Kodak Black won’t be home for Christmas. Judge says he is a ‘danger to the community’
Rapper Kodak Black, busted yet again on state drug possession charges, won’t be home for Christmas.
Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, has been held since last week in a federal detention center in Miami after violating his probation on a gun-buying conviction dating back more than four years.
READ MORE: Kodak Black is back behind bars after Broward drug arrest. This time, in Miami
On Tuesday, Federal Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Becerra said she would not release the 26-year-old Pompano Beach rapper to attend a drug treatment facility in Arizona after his lawyer Bradford Cohen openly acknowledged he had an addiction problem.
“If you’re buying drugs or using drugs, you’re a danger to the community,” Becerra said, leaving the final decision on whether Black should continue to be detained on the probation violation up to U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez.
A federal prosecutor said Black should not be released for drug rehab out of state.
“If we let him out today to go out to Arizona, we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Brown said in court.
In February, Broward Circuit Court Judge Barbara Duffy ordered Kodak to stay at a rehabilitation facility for 30 days after an hours-long hearing.
Black’s court hearing was attended by a dozen supporters backing his release.
The probation violation stems from a 2019 case in which Kodak pleaded guilty to lying on a background check form when he purchased handguns at a Hialeah weapons store, federal court records show. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison, though it was commuted by former President Donald Trump in January 2021, shortly before he left office.
The rapper, however, was placed on probation for three years, with the period ending in January 2024.
Two weeks ago, Plantation police say they found the rapper asleep in a Bentley with drugs on him. He was charged with cocaine possession, evidence tampering, and improperly stopping, standing or parking.
Black, who has a criminal history spanning several states, was pulled over by Florida Highway Patrol last year and arrested on drug possession and trafficking charges. State troopers say they found 31 oxycodone tablets in Kodak’s purple Dodge Durango.
“All the good deeds I do, all the good things I do, it never goes as viral,” Kodak said at the time. “I don’t know why [they] are so hungry to see me in jail.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2023 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Kodak Black won’t be home for Christmas. Judge says he is a ‘danger to the community’."
