Law&Crime Sidebar - 8 Shocking Accusations Against Rapper NBA YoungBoy in Prescription Fraud Case

Episode Date: April 23, 2024

NBA YoungBoy, whose real name is Kentrell Gaulden, was on house arrest in Utah when prosecutors say he spearheaded an operation to get prescription medications using fake names. New court documents lay out how investigators say they tracked the alleged crimes back to Gaulden. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber analyzes the affidavit of probable cause in the case.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. We are learning new details about charges against a rapper who was already under house arrest but is now back behind bars without bail as Utah authorities and the FBI accuse him of spearheading a very prescription fraud rape. We're breaking down what a probable cause statement has to say about NBA Young Boy. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime.

I'm Jesse Weber. We first told you last week about NBA Young Boy, who also goes by Young Boy, never broke again. Well, the rapper's real name is Cantrell Galden. He was arrested one week ago on 63 state charges. And we're going to go through those in just a moment, and they are something, let me tell you. Well, if you haven't heard of Young Boy, that might not be surprising because his songs aren't really on the radio. He rarely performs live, but after getting his start in Louisiana at age 15, young boy has dominated the streaming world. According to Billboard, since he got his start in 2015, he's been on the Billboard Hot 100 chart 96 times.

He was the third most streamed artist in the U.S. in 2022 behind only Drake and Taylor. Miller Swift, this is according to Luminate, which tracks entertainment industry data. He has more than 13 million subscribers on YouTube. That's incredible. Now, despite his success in the music world, young boy has been dogged by legal troubles over the last several years. In fact, in 2016, U.S. Marshall's arrested young boy, accusing him of jumping out of a vehicle and shooting at a group of people on a south Baton Rouge street.

He was facing two counts of attempted first-degree murder, but ended up pleading guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault with a firearm. He was given a 10-year suspended prison sentence and three-year probation. Fast forward to 2019, while he was still on probation, Young Boy was involved in a shooting in Miami. Someone inside of an SUV shot at Young Boy, injuring the rapper's girlfriend at the time, killing a bystander.

Young boy allegedly shot back. His charges for the actual shooting, though, were dismissed, but he violated a special condition of probation. He wasn't supposed to be spending time with these two specific individuals. who were connected to the Baton Rouge shooting, but he was. So for that, he had to spend 90 days in jail and the rest of his probation on house arrest. 2020, prosecutors indicted young boy and 15 other people on drug and weapons charges after they filmed a music video in a vacant lot in Baton Rouge.

The warrant was issued for young boy's arrest, and he was eventually taken into custody in California. He's facing federal firearms charges. Then in 2021, something interesting happened. While he was locked up in Louisiana, again on these federal. firearms charges. He and his lawyers asked a judge if he could be released on house arrest and moved to a property in the Salt Lake City area. He had apparently spent time in Utah as a child through a youth outreach program. He had grown close with what he called his adoptive family there.

According to courtroom testimony, his attorneys believed that the move would help keep him out of trouble. And the U.S. District Court judge allowed it. Now, it hasn't been easy. No, recently his lawyers filed papers suggesting that young boy had been suffering from anxiety, depression, weight, sleep loss, federal judge ended up loosening some of those house arrest restrictions allowing the rapper to get mental health treatment, but wouldn't allow him to spend more time at the record studio or the recording studio. But despite pretrial supervision and an ankle monitor, authorities say young boy has once again found himself in hot water, and that is what we're going to get into, these brand new charges he is facing. First of all, the probable

cause affidavit starts with almost three full pages. showing a list of charges, possession of a dangerous weapon, pattern of unlawful activity, 20 counts of identity fraud, 20 counts of procuring or attempting to procure any drug or prescription, 20 counts of forgery, possession of a controlled substance, marijuana. Now, the affidavit states that the Cash County Sheriff's Office started investigating a large prescription fraud ring that they believed young boy was a part of. In fact, they labeled him the target of the investigation, meaning, this is the person who authorities are gathering evidence against to charge with a crime.

The ring had reportedly been trying to get various medications, but specifically Promethazine with codeine, a cough suppressant that's not only a controlled substance, but is also heavily abused. All right. So now let's get into the actual language of the affidavit. What does it say? Okay, we start off with September 19th, 2023, and pay attention to the progression of time here. So it says Reed's pharmacy and Hiram received a prescription.

call in for a Bethel White with a claimed date of birth in 1949. The prescription was called in by an individual who will be further referred to as the suspect claiming to be a physician in the Provo, Utah area, providing an actual valid DEA number, NPI number, and other identification for the real physician. Reed's pharmacy discovered that the phone number that the suspect called in from was a phone number that was not the same as the clinic in the Provo area. Reade's pharmacy contacted the actual physician and the actual physician informed employees of Reed's pharmacy that he does not have a patient by the name of Bethel White, nor did he call in a prescription to a pharmacy in Hiram. The actual physician told pharmacy employees that this has, quote, happened several times today and that they did not write any prescriptions for a Bethel White.

Law enforcement staged in the parking lot of the Reed's pharmacy awaiting someone to show up to retrieve the prescription, but no suspect showed up. Now, I got to say, good on the pharmacy employees for taking the time to look a little bit further into this. I think it's part of their job anyway, but it sounds like whoever called it in had all of the right identifying information. So it might not be too much of a leap to think that someone might have just filled it and moved on. I believe it was, though, this has happened several times today that led authorities to believe that this is a much larger issue. And the affidavit seems to claim that young boy tried the same same. scheme at a different pharmacy location. Okay, so again, September 19, 2023, Spence's pharmacy, and Logan received a phone call from the suspect using the same physician's information

calling in a prescription for a Gwendolyn Cox with a claimed date of birth in 1951. Look at the ages here. The prescription was for promethazine with codeine, similar to the prescription called in to Reed's pharmacy. About two weeks after the prescription had been called in, the prescription had been picked up by a female individual who would be referred to as Associate 2. The affidavit goes on to state, Associate 2 picked up the prescription for Gwendolyn and alleged that Gwendolyn was her grandmother.

Later on, October 9th, 20203, and Spencer's pharmacy received another call from the suspect identifying as the same physician, again trying to prescribe promethazine with codeine to Gwendolyn Cox. However, the pharmacist requested that they send a hard copy of the prescription with the patient this time. and the suspect hung up the phone. At this time, employees of Spence's pharmacy attempted to call the real physician back after looking up his phone number for a practice in Provo.

Contact was made with the real physician, and he told them that he had not called in any prescriptions and that his name and credentials are being used fraudulently. So this is a much larger issue. The affidavit goes on to say that this is an ongoing alleged scheme, because then we go to January 17, 2024. A fraudulent prescription was called into the Larry's pharmacy in the Smithfield, Smithfield, Utah area. The prescription had been called in by the suspect identifying as the physician.

The prescription was being called in for a female by the name of, you guessed it, Gwendolyn Cox. Slightly different spelling, though, and date of birth as the one at Spence's pharmacy with the provider birthday of 1949, the prescription called in was Promethazine with codeine, listed as a Schedule 5 controlled substance. After receiving the request for the prescription, the pharmacy had found the call to be suspicious. The pharmacy attempted to contact the doctor again, but the phone number was disconnected. The pharmacy searched the practice on the internet for the physician and found that he was a medical provider in Provo.

During the conversation with the physician, he stated that he does not have a patient by the name of Gwendolyn Cox and suggested that the prescription request was fraudulent. The physician had told the pharmacy that this has happened many times. The pharmacy then contacted law enforcement and provided the information. In addition, the pharmacy had also been in communication with someone who identified themselves as Gwendolyn Cox and that they were making arrangements for their grandchild to pick up the prescription. They described that Gwendolyn sounded as though they were a much younger person disguising their voice to sound much older. The phone numbers that the pharmacy had received calls from were later called by the pharmacy and found to be disconnected or not in service.

So what happened? Well, affidavit states that a plan was devised to. contact whoever arrived to pick up the prescription from Larry's pharmacy. Two different females later identified as known associates of Kentrell-Galdon, young boy, and will be referred to as known associate one and two. They arrived at Larry's pharmacy to pick up the prescription. They were detained for the investigation. They were later arrested for their role in a prescription fraud ring.

But get this. Investigators say that young boy himself actually reached out to them pretending to be Gwendolyn. The investigator states, and the probable cause affidavit, quote, during the investigation, I was contacted by dispatch and informed of a Gwendolyn Cox needing to speak with me. I contacted Gwendolyn at the phone number that she provided dispatch. During my conversation with Gwendolyn, she gave me the last name of White, then asked for the spelling of her name. Gwendolyn only gave me her birth month and date and could not provide her age to me. Gwendolyn also would not provide her address, though the address given to the pharmacy was. a local address to Smithfield. Also, during the conversation with Gwendolyn, it was very clear that a fake voice was being used. Gwendolyn sounded as though she was a much younger male from the southern states.

Gwendolyn made a statement, well, I asked her to, and she said that she'll have you call me. This statement was a response to request that was made to have Gwendolyn contact dispatch and have them transfer her call back through. According to your affiant's training and experience and having lived in the southern United States, terminology in replacing the word ask with acts or other variations is consistent with a southern dialect in states such as Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and other southern states. So you can see how they believe this is young boy. Well, it certainly seems that young boy is going to need a good lawyer.

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the alleged fraud operation. It says that during the incident at Larry's pharmacy, known associates one and two arrived in a white Chevy Tahoe registered to Cantrell-Galdon out of Texas. During the investigation, the strong odor of marijuana emitted from within the vehicle. When both known associates one and two were confronted on the odor, they consensual. to a search of the vehicle. Residual marijuana flakes were found throughout the vehicle. They claimed that the marijuana in the vehicle was not theirs.

Also, during the search of the vehicle, an empty handgun case was found for a Tysa 1911 in the caliber of a 45 ACP. The vehicle registration was observed as well belonging to Cantrell-Galdon. During the communication with known associates one and two, they continued to suggest that they were going to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription for a friend and would never give a name. It's also a value to note that when interviewing one of the females, they were asked who the prescription was for, and she said, Deborah Cox, names are not adding up, a little inconsistent there.

Well, now, when these women were arrested, the SUV was taken to an impound, and young boy wanted to get it out, but the impound yard was reportedly suspicious, thinking that the car might actually be a stolen vehicle. So the investigator spoke with young boy and realized he recognized the rapper's voice. The affidavit states, during the conversation with Kentrell-Galdon, he claimed that the females arrested in Smithfield were family. During the conversation, I only asked questions regarding Kentrell-Galdon's relation to the females who possessed his vehicle, as well as trying to confirm that they had his vehicle with his permission. Control-Galdon agreed that they had permission to have his vehicle and asked about getting it out of impound. I provided Cantrell-Galdon with information on how to get the vehicle out of impound. The conversation continued with Kenchrell-Galdon for a duration of time, and Kenchrell-Galdon made a statement determined to be an excited utterance. That's very important because that's something that could be used at trial that wouldn't be determined to be hearsay.

So the statement was made without asking a related question, quote, asks him about the prescription that they picked up. The affidavit states that this utterance that Kentrell-Galdon made was to another person on the conference call later identified. as by their moniker and continued to be Kentrell-Galdon's brother will be referred to as Known Associate 3. Known Associate 3 has been confirmed as a lifelong friend of Kentrell-Galdon and lived with him in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This is according to federal probation. Given the manner in which the conversation would break up

and go silent for durations of time, it is suspected that they had muted my ability to hear multiple times throughout the call. Given that Kentrell-Galdon was telling a known Associate 3 to ask about the prescriptions, it is suspected that they intended to mute me at that time as well. This utterance was made with no questions asked regarding any prescriptions being picked up throughout the phone call. Let's see how that's suspicious.

The utterance shows both knowledge by Kentrell-Galdon about the fraudulent prescription being attempted to get picked up. In addition, it proves intent as Kentrell-Galdon continued to attempt to further the prescription fraud by talking about the prescription. Also, a value to note, Kentrell-Galdon used the word. act instead of ask, this is similar to my conversation with Gwendolyn the night before when Gwendolyn used the same word based on my training and experience and having lived in the southern United States using the term acts in place of ask as a common southern

dialect. This is also consistent with Kentrell-Galdon being from Louisiana and having lived in Texas as well. So young boy may have put his foot in his mouth there with his dialect giving him away. But investigators believe that based on the number of times, they found prescriptions had been ordered or given out with fake names, young boy, or whoever was behind this operation, was likely trying to sell them. Through the aggregated amounts of promethazine with codeine and the amount of prescriptions known to have been successfully filled and attempted, your affian has identified it as a distributable amount.

Through evaluation of the fraud and sentence, it is clear that there are numerous individuals involved to further the fraud scheme identified as an enterprise. The ongoing fraud and suspected drug distribution occurring between Kentrell-Galdon and his associates further substantiates the pattern of unlawful activity as they have engaged in at least three episodes of unlawful activity that are all similar in purpose, results, participants, victims, and methods of commission. You know what that says to me? Potential witnesses, potential people who may take deals to testify against young boy.

That's something that came to my mind. Now, police served a search warrant on Young Boy's Mansion on April 16th. Young Boy and his guests were detained and officers did an interview with Young Boy. The affidavit states that during the interview, Kentrell Galdon was asked about the presence of firearms inside of his home. Kentrell Galdon said that a gun belonging to his wife was in the home. Control Galdon was asked if he had ever handed the gun or if his DNA would be found on the firearm.

He denied that the presence of his DNA would be found on the gun. However, he further described that two days earlier he had picked up the gun and moved it from an open area, placing it inside of a drawer. Control Goulden claimed that that was the only time he had touched the gun. He further described that his wife always has the gun within reach throughout the house. Now remember, a young boy isn't supposed to have access to weapons during his probation and pre-trial house arrest. And also remember that he was currently on house arrest awaiting trial for federal gun charges for possession of a firearm by a felon because of that Louisiana music shoot incident. Well, now the gun in question here was found inside of his closet unsecured and where he would have had access to it.

During the search of the residence, law enforcement found a prescription bottle in Kentrell Galdon's bathroom inside of the master bedroom identified as his. The prescription bottle was for Caroline White, one of the known fraudulent names with the corresponding prescribing doctor who had confirmed the fraud. Now they really have it tied back to him. Per the search warrant, all electronics were to be searched, a triage was being conducted as to not interfere with Kentrell's music business. However, Kentrell refused to give any passcodes for the devices.

He answered, take it and break it when I asked him for passwords for the devices. All devices were seized as they are suspected of containing communications that would provide further evidence of the identified ongoing criminal enterprise and the criminal actions occurring therein. The affidavit ends by saying, quote, according to the FBI, Kentrell is the known leader of a violent gang from the Louisiana area. Wow. Based on Kentrell's history, it is apparent that he is prone to violence based on the totality of the circumstances. A no bail hold is requested to be placed on Cantrell pending a detainer to be obtained by federal prosecution for his current case. Okay. What does all that mean? Well, young boy, he was arraigned on these charges last week with a pretrial release hearing set for April 29th. And at the time of this recording, it's our understanding that he is in the Cash County, Utah jail without bail. But it is our understanding that a Louisiana federal judge signed off on scheduling a hearing for his bond to be revoked for the federal case. Not surprising considering this arrest and new charges would most certainly be a violation of house arrest. So that means that if the state judge grants some pretrial release, he could potentially

be taken into federal custody, that there would be no or more house arrest, that he would be locked up while awaiting trial. We will see where this goes next. That's all we have for you here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.