Rapper Kodak Black arrested on felony trafficking charge, pleads not guilty

Kodak Black arrives at the American Music Awards on Nov. 20, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

ORLANDO, Fla. — Rapper Kodak Black was arrested this week on a drug trafficking charge in central Florida in his latest run-in with law enforcement.

The rapper, whose real name is Bill Kapri, was booked into the Orange County Jail on Wednesday on a felony charge of trafficking MDMA, the synthetic drug also known as ecstasy or molly.

Kapri entered a written plea of not guilty and asked for a jury trial on Thursday. He also waived appearing in person at a future arraignment hearing in state court.

Kapri’s arrest followed a police encounter in Orlando in December when officers were called to a neighborhood in Orlando by residents who reported hearing gunshots. Officers encountered a bunch of people hanging out around parked luxury sports utility vehicles, including Kapri, according to a police report.

An officer noticed a white substance on a US$100 bill inside a Lamborghini SUV, which smelled of cannabis, giving the officer probable cause to search the vehicle. During the search, the officer found a pink bag containing a plastic bag of MDMA, $37,000 and numerous documents with Kapri’s name on them, the police report said.

The pink bag matched a bag seen in a photo of Kapri that the rapper had posted to his Instagram account. The bag also contained a distinct lighter that also was in the photo, investigators said.

According to the police report, everyone at the scene denied owning the bag, including Kapri, who nevertheless said the money belonged to his business and asked for it back.

Ambrosia Healy and Kevin Young, who represent Kapri at Universal Music Group, didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

Kapri has faced previous legal issues.

In 2023, police in Plantation, Florida arrested Kapri after finding him asleep at the wheel with white powder around his mouth, officials said. Although authorities said the powder initially tested positive for cocaine, a lab test later revealed it was oxycodone, for which Kapri obtained a prescription.

The arrest was a violation of his probation from an unrelated case, which led to him being locked up in Miami for two months.

Kapri was also arrested in 2022 on charges of trafficking in oxycodone and possession of a controlled substance without a prescription. He was freed on bond with regular drug testing as a condition of his release. Kapri was ordered into drug rehab for 30 days in 2023 after missing a drug test and then testing positive for fentanyl several days later, according to court records.

In January 2021, then-President Donald Trump commuted a three-year federal prison sentence the rapper had for falsifying documents used to buy weapons. Kapri had served about half his sentence.

As Kodak Black, Kapri has sold more than 30 million singles, with massive hits such as “Super Gremlin,” which reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022.

Mike Schneider, The Associated Press