Rapper Kodak Black was taken into custody this week on a drug trafficking offense in central Florida, marking his latest encounter with law enforcement. The artist, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, was detained at Orange County jail on Wednesday for a felony charge related to trafficking MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly.
Kapri pleaded not guilty in writing and requested a jury trial on Thursday. Additionally, he opted out of attending an in-person arraignment hearing in state court. The arrest stemmed from a police incident in December when authorities responded to reports of gunshots in an Orlando neighborhood. Upon arrival, officers discovered a group gathered around luxurious parked vehicles, including Kapri.
During the encounter, an officer observed a white substance on a $100 bill within a Lamborghini SUV that emitted a cannabis odor. This led to a search of the vehicle, uncovering a pink bag containing a plastic package of MDMA, $37,000 US, and various documents bearing Kapri’s name, as per the police report. The pink bag matched one depicted in a photo posted by Kapri on his Instagram account, along with a distinctive lighter also present in the image, according to investigators.
Despite everyone at the scene disavowing ownership of the bag, including Kapri, he asserted that the money belonged to his business and requested its return. Ambrosia Healy and Kevin Young, Kapri’s representatives at Universal Music Group, did not respond to an email seeking comment. Kapri was released on bail the following Thursday night, as confirmed by a spokesperson from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Kapri has encountered legal troubles in the past. In 2023, authorities in Plantation, Fla., arrested him for being found asleep at the wheel with a white powder near his mouth, initially suspected to be cocaine but later revealed through lab testing to be oxycodone, for which he had a prescription. This arrest violated his probation from an unrelated case, resulting in a two-month incarceration in Miami.
Additionally, Kapri was arrested in 2022 on charges of oxycodone trafficking and possessing a controlled substance without a prescription. He was released on bond with mandatory drug testing requirements. Following a missed drug test and subsequent positive fentanyl test, court records show Kapri was ordered to undergo 30 days of drug rehabilitation in 2023.
In January 2021, former President Donald Trump commuted Kapri’s three-year federal prison sentence for falsifying documents to purchase weapons. As Kodak Black, Kapri has achieved significant commercial success, selling over 30 million singles, including hits like “Super Gremlin,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2022.
