NEW YORK – Rap artist Tekashi 6ix9ine admitted to a charge of drug possession on Wednesday, breaching the terms of his supervised release. This incident adds to his legal troubles since serving a federal sentence for racketeering and conspiracy.
The 29-year-old artist, known officially as Daniel Hernandez, confessed to a judge in Manhattan that his Miami residence was searched on March 12. Authorities discovered traces of cocaine and MDMA—commonly called Molly or ecstasy—in a cabinet in his bedroom.
In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop two other counts he faced stemming from the incident.
The Brooklyn rapper, who shot to fame with the 2017 release of his song “Gummo,” will be sentenced Sept. 25.
Although no state charges have arisen from the search, U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer cautioned him that there would be “serious consequences” if he violates the terms of his release before the sentencing date.
Federal sentencing guidelines call for between three and nine months in prison for each count, but Hernandez could face up to five years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release, the judge added.
The rapper, who was dressed in a black hoodie and who wasn’t sporting his trademark colorful hairstyle, declined to comment as he left the courthouse.
Hernandez pleaded guilty in 2018 to his involvement with a violent New York-based gang, the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.
He was handed a lenient sentence of two years in prison in 2019 followed by five years of supervised release for his cooperation in the prosecution of other gang members.
He was even released from federal prison several months early during the height of COVID-19 pandemic.
But last November, Hernandez was found in violation of his probation for failing to show up for drug tests, traveling to Las Vegas from his Florida home without permission and lying to his probation officer.
At the time, Engelmayer sentenced him to another 45 days in federal custody, saying the infractions showed a lack of respect for the law.
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