Musical Artist Sean Kingston, best known for his hit “Beautiful Girls”, was arrested yesterday and charged with several fraud-related counts. This came after authorities raided his South Florida home where his mother lives. Janice Turner is facing eight felony charges related to fraud, including worthless check over $150,000, grand theft over $100,000 and scheme to defraud. Several of these charges are first degree felonies, due to the amounts involved. That means she is facing up to 30 years in prison on each of the most serious counts. While she is unlikely to get the maximum sentence, the seriousness of the charges suggest she will score to a minimum presumptive sentence of prison under Florida’s harsh guidelines.
The situation for Kingston, legal name Kisean Anderson, is even more dire. Reports indicate he was also arrested on several felony charges, presumably similar to those his mother is facing. He’s already had several civil judgments for obtaining property, such hundreds of thousands in jewelry, that he didn’t pay for, which may be the impetus for some of the fraud/theft charges. He has a pending lawsuit for failing to pay for a 232 inch home theater, and the $100,000 or so that he owes there are likely the basis for some of his charges. The Sun Sentinel shared the complaint for the lawsuit, with substantial details, though there is no indication in that suit of what his mother’s involvement may be- her charges may stem from other activity.
But here’s where things get really hairy for Mr. Kingston- he’s already on felony probation for trafficking in stolen property. There has not been much media coverage on that, short of an article mentioning a warrant a few years ago. He may have managed to avoid much coverage of that criminal case, it was a mention by the attorney suing him now that he is currently on felony probation that alerted me to it. According to Florida DOC records, he was placed on 2 years of felony probation just back in November of last year. The timing could be very problematic for him… the lawsuit indicates the dates of his transaction for the home theater system were at the end of last year, AFTER being placed on felony probation. That means some of the new charges are likely to violate the probation he just started substantially increasing the likelihood of prison time.
Technically, Kingston is not entitled to a bond. While he is bond eligible on the new charges, the judge has the power to withhold a bond for the violation of probation. What would you do if you were the judge and the guy you just put on felony probation violates with new felonies- similar to what he was already on probation for? That said, the court should consider a bond for him… the charges are non-violent in nature, he has ties to the community, etc. When there is theft or fraud, one of the biggest concerns will be restitution and making the victim or victims whole financially. Sean Kingston is a working musician, apparently he was literally picked up at a concert he had just performed, and has the capacity to make money to pay the victims back, if he is proven to have defrauded them. He can’t do that in jail.
He’s going to be locked up for a while. The latest report is that he will be extradited back to Florida- he’s waiving extradition proceedings to accelerate that process, but he is likely to remain jailed for the time being.
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