Law&Crime Sidebar - NBA YoungBoy Faked Being a Doctor to Run Drug Ring

Episode Date: November 19, 2024

Kentrell Gaulden, who goes by the rap name NBA YoungBoy, entered a no contest plea to ten fraud charges related to a prescription drug ring. He’s now expected to be sentenced to 27 months behind bars and five years probation as part of a deal with federal prosecutors in a separate case. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber has details on the deal that will send the successful rapper to prison.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest 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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that 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. So this is just part, really a smaller cog and the bigger wheel of ultimately seeking justice against Mr. Golden. A Louisiana rapper living under house arrest in Utah, found himself in even bigger trouble when it was announced. He was charged with being the leader of a prescription drug fraud ring. Now we're learning details of the resolution everyone agreed to in the state case as he prepares for sentencing in a federal case as well.

This is the story of NBA young boy. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. 25-year-old Kentrell Galden is better known to his fans as rapper. NBA Youngboy. Now, despite having almost no radio airplay, he is one of the most listened to artists in the entire world, thanks to streaming. According to Spotify, Youngboy has more than 16 million monthly listeners on its platform. That's outpaced by the likes of Drake, Taylor Swift. His

YouTube page passed the 10 billion view mark over the summer. But the artist's online success, it has been punctuated by arrests out in the real world. We remember back in 2016 U.S. Marshals, they arrested young boy, accusing him of jumping out of a vehicle, shooting at a group of people on a South Baton Rouge street. He was facing two counts of attempted first-degree murder for that, but he ended up pleading guilty to a reduced charge of aggravated assault with a firearm. He was given a 10-year suspended prison sentence, three years probation. Fast forward, 2019, while he was still on probation, young boy was apparently involved in a shooting out in Miami. Someone inside of an SUV shot young boy, injuring the rapper's girlfriend at the time,

killing a bystander. Young boy fired back. His charges for the actual shooting, though, were dismissed, but he violated a special condition of his probation. He wasn't supposed to be spending time with two specific men who were connected to that 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. Then in 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. He was eventually taken into custody, locked away in Louisiana, but his lawyers had asked the judge if he could be released on house arrest and be moved to a property in the Salt Lake City, Utah area. He'd spend time

in Utah as a child through a youth outreach program, and he'd grown close with what he called his adoptive family there, so they thought this might be a good alternative. And according to courtroom testimony his attorneys believe that this move would quote help keep him out of trouble and you know what u.s district court judge allowed it hey by the way we have been trying to actively cover updates for you in this NBA young boy case as it's developed and i got to call out our sponsor upside because it's with their support that helps us to continue to do this now if you don't know what upside is it's awesome it is a free app so easy to use that helps you get cash back when you buy gas groceries food this is real cashback it's money that appears in your

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Earlier this year, young boy was booked into jail on 63 counts before eventually being charged in court with 46 of those counts. And you remember his federal gun case, that was moving forward too. And he was actually hit with two more gun charges in connection with this drug fraud case. Now, in exchange for having his gun case transferred from Louisiana to Utah, young boy agreed to enter a guilty plea and sign paperwork pledging to do so once his case was moved. Now, in the interest of saving time, money, and effort, all the parties came together, the defense, the state prosecutors, the federal prosecutors, to do what's called a global plea. And that means that more than one case can be rolled into the same sentence.

It's a way to resolve everything. So a young boy has agreed to plead guilty in the federal case. And when he appeared in court on Monday in Cash County, Utah, his team alerted the court that a deal had been worked out and that young boy had planned to enter a no contest plea to several of the charges. Your Honor, it's anticipated that he will enter those pleas as charged. In other words, identity fraud as a third-degree felony with two counts. Forgery as a third-degree felony, two counts. Six counts of pharmacy fraud, which would be those count four.

And that's a Class A misdemeanor. And those are all Class A misdemeanors. there are six of those, and all of those cases, the counts I just recited are those, the ends are all the pharmacy fraud cases. We are asking the court to waive time for sentencing. I have some specific requests as it relates to sentencing about the language, but the agreement is that my client will pay a $25,000 fine to the court. I have a cashier's check in hand. I'm holding it now. now that I would like to publish to the court at the end of this.

Upon payment of that, the state has agreed to a 402 reduction for each of those four felony counts. They would all be reduced to class A misdemeanors and the case would close at that point in time. Okay, so NBA Youngboy entered a no contest plea to 10 charges out of the dozens that he was originally charged with. And this is all connected to identity fraud, forgery, unlawful farce. pharmacy conduct. And when you enter a no contest plea, a little bit different than a guilty play, no contest is basically saying, look, I can tell you that if this goes to trial, probably going to be found guilty, but I am not admitting my guilt. I'm not admitting wrongdoing. Now, as part of the deal, the felony charges were pled down to Class A misdemeanors. I'm going to give Mr. Williams

a chance to put on the record just a little bit more detail about what's happening with the federal sentence and the amount of incarceration that Mr. Galdon will be receiving as to why it might make some sense for the court to accept the plea bargain. Go ahead, Mr. Williams. Your Honor, thank you. I'm happy to do that. Your Honor, the agreement that my client has reached with the government, the federal government is he's already entered this plea. This is a matter of public record. He reached an agreement that has yet to be accepted by the district court. I should qualify that, that a sentence of incarceration of 27 months in the Bureau. of prisons would be a reasonable sentence. And we're awaiting sentencing on that currently. But

the position here is that that is a significant sentence. Candidly, it could be that if he were sent to the Utah State Prison on this, the board may release him far sooner than that. But he's going to do this 27 months within federal custody, which is why we're asking the court to follow this recommendation and this plea agreement that we've reached of just closing the case now, then he can go and remain in federal custody and go do that time when that sentence is handed down. So 27 months in prison on that other case. And once he's out of federal prison, young boy isn't off Scott free. He has to follow strict probationary rules for 60 months. It's five years or else he goes back behind bars. And as part of that federal probationary period,

Would Mr. Galden be required to, I assume he would be subject to probation searches that would involve ensuring that he is not possessing or using any dangerous weapons, such as firearms, likewise, no illegal drugs or alcohol, things of that nature? That's correct, Your Honor, and federal probation is a sort of unique animal in the sense that it's akin to. to probationary terms in the state, which is to say that they could impose the entire sentence that they were initially available to impose if there were to be a violation. But he would have federal probation officers for that period of time. And Your Honor, I would just add to that too with built within the federal code is any violation of probation that includes possession of a controlled substance requires automatic revocation of the term of probation.

So there is a lot writing on our client doing well after the Bureau of Prison Time and then for five years on probation. Now, the judge, like you do when anybody's entering a plea, question young boy about his willingness to accept this deal, to plead no contest, and also check to see if anything could be unduly influencing his decision. Mr. Golden, have you had enough time to speak to your attorneys about this decision to enter into this Plea bargain. Yes. Have they gone over with you the rights that you would be waiving by accepting this plea bargain and entering no contest, please, and being sentenced today and having this case closed? Yes.

Mr. Golden, are you under the influence of any drugs or alcohol today? No. Are you on any medications right now? No. Are you thinking clearly today and understanding everything that's happening in court? Yes. Has anybody forced you or coerced you to get you to accept this plea bargain? No.

Are you pleading no contest today because you believe that the government does have sufficient evidence to be able to prove each of these 12, excuse me, each of the 10 charges that you would be entering a no contest plea to today beyond a reasonable doubt no are you are you acknowledging that even though you're maintaining your innocence that the government would still be able to prove these charges in court potentially and so you believe it's in your best interest to accept a plea bargain no in order for me to accept your no contest plea I just need to better understand and make sure that that you are acknowledging that the global resolution of these cases is in your best interest

and that there is some basis for you to be accepting the plea bargain. There is some evidence that you believe would justify you accepting the plea bargain. Are you able to acknowledge that? Yes. Okay. Obviously, this is necessary. It's important for the judge to make sure a defendant understands what they are agreeing to. what they are giving up, what their rights are,

because the last thing that anybody wants is for them to enter into a deal and say they entered into it under duress or they didn't quite understand what was happening, have to go back to the courts. This is clear. Now, the judge asked the prosecutor to provide a factual basis for the allegations being made so that it would be on the record with the court. This is very standard.

And any time somebody enters a plea, you kind of want to list out what exactly we're talking about here. And for us, that gives us more details and what exactly young boy did. Let's have a factual basis to support the 10 charges he's pleading to. Your Honor, the defendant is ultimately criminally responsible, particularly under Utah Code 76 to 202, for a large-scale prescription drug fraudering

that has been known to have acquired various prescription medications, specifically permethasine with codeine, which is a cough suppressant that's heavily abysm, schedule five controlled substance in the state of Utah and those were secured from multiple pharmacies in Cache County as well as other pharmacies in northern Utah. Mr. Galdon had acted with others in this criminal activity particularly where there were two co-defendants which were recently had their cases resolved before this court and those co-defendants were intercepted as they were trying to

pick up the fraudulent prescription at Larry's pharmacy in Smithfield here in Cash County. Those two individuals were using Mr. Galden's vehicle to make the pickup, and they were detained by law enforcement, and shortly thereafter, someone contacted law enforcement, pretending to be an elderly woman to whom the fraudulent prescription belonged. The prescription was listed to be for a Gwendolyn Cox, but this elderly woman, who was clearly someone pretending to be an elderly woman, said her name was Gwendolyn White, and couldn't provide a birth year. This is important because fraudulent names such as Beatrice White, Bethel White, Carolyn White, Harriet White, Anna White, and Gwendolyn White were all being used through this scheme.

Yeah, so according to prosecutors, the doctor's name on fraudulent prescriptions was actually a real doctor in Provo, Utah. But when investigators contacted him, he didn't have any patients with the fake names or anything about the fraud. Prosecutors also say young boy called in prescriptions under his own name, but with other key information change. In addition, there was one prescription called in for Control Galden, but the date of birth for that prescription was in 1953, which was clearly false date of birth, and is consistent with some of those date of births used with the false elderly women names throughout this fraudulent scheme. That prescription was picked up by an individual who was intercepted by law enforcement. Shortly thereafter, promethazine with codeine, along with other prescriptions, had been called in to that same pharmacy for Mr. Galden. utilizing his accurate date of birth.

Mr. Galdon, however, while he was on a federal probation, was only afforded a single doctor to issue prescriptions with a single pharmacy, and the doctor who called that prescription in was inconsistent, and that pharmacy was inconsistent with those which had been allowed through probation. When in the end, there was a search warrant executed on Mr. Dalton's residence. Law enforcement found a prescription bottle in Mr. Galden's bathroom. Inside the master bedroom, the bottle was for a Caroline White,

one of the known fraudulent names with the corresponding prescribing doctor who had confirmed the fraud. The prescription was for doxycycline, and the prescription bottle was consistent with the time frame and patient information for the promethazine with codeine that had also been picked up, according to a subsequently gathered, a doppel report. Also in the bathroom, was a prescription for doxycycline to control Galdon, also prescribed by the same doctor and the previously confirmed as fraud. This is consistent with the promethazine with coating

that had been prescribed with Contrell's fake date of birth, and a prescription bottle of promethazine with coating was also found inside the defendant's bathroom with no prescription label in the bottle. And a further search of the defendant's residence yielded three more bottles of permithesine with coding. After the prosecutor read everything into the record,

NBA young boy officially entered his plea to all 10 charges. To the charge of pharmacy fraud, a class A misdemeanor, six separate counts. How do you plead to each six of those charges? No contest. The court finds that you have knowingly involuntarily entered your no contest, please. I've signed the statement of defendant and will now enter that into the record. And at the end of the hearing, the judge had a few more parting words, comments for young boy before sending him on his way. Mr. Golden, I've seen so many that good men and women who have a lot of talent and potential, that they can be robbed of that potential when they start to really struggle with their addiction. So I don't want that for you.

You seem like a very talented young man. I'm hoping in your future that once you're done with your federal prison time, that you can be really successful on federal probation and have a really bright future where you can reach your full potential in every aspect of your life. Best of luck to you, Mr. Galden. Thank you. That's all I have. If I could be excused. You may.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So, $25,000 fine, 27 months in federal prison, possibly less with good behavior, and then five years of probation. Now, as we learn more about what's next for young boy, we will make sure to keep you updated.

That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. Bye.