Kodak Black will face rape charges in South Carolina after he allegedly sexually assaulted a high school-aged girl after a concert in Florence in 2016.
Because Kodak is currently on tour, South Carolina prosecutors are giving him until summer or fall to return to the state to answer to a criminal first-degree criminal sexual conduct charge. The “ZEZE” rapper could potentially go on trial at that time as well.
“I’m hoping to get it up for disposition by then,” 12th Circuit Solicity Ed Clements said Thursday (Apr. 4) after announcing that the trial that was tentatively scheduled for April was pushed back to the summer or fall.
The State reports:
The rapper committed the crime in a hotel room after performing at a concert in Florence, Clements said. An arrest warrant accuses the 21-year-old rapper of committing the sexual assault in February 2016.
Kodak Black, who was born named Dieuson Octave, was arrested on the sexual assault charge in November 2016, WMBF reported.
The girl did not immediately report the assault to law enforcement; instead she told a nurse at her Richland County high school, who informed the school resource officer before the information was eventually brought to the attention of the Florence County Sheriff’s Office, according to WPDE.
Clements confirmed to The State that the girl was not a minor when the crime occurred; otherwise the charges would have been different to reflect that.
According to the arrest warrant, Kodak Black forced the girl onto the bed, then the floor where he committed sexual battery, although she “repeatedly told the defendant no and to stop. The defendant did not stop.” He also bit the girl on the “neck and her right breast,” injuries that were documented in a rape kit, the arrest warrant said.
The hip hop star was released on a $100,000 bond, WPDE reported. After he was released, Kodak Black agreed to be swabbed and the prosecutor’s office has his DNA, Clements told The State.
“We are slowly but steadily moving toward a disposition,” said Clements, who told The State the rapper could face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if convicted, but there are several lesser sentences he could face related to the same criminal sexual conduct charge. “I want to do justice for the victim, whatever that takes.”
Attorneys Beattie Ashmore and Robert E. Lee are representing the rapper, who has been “arrested four times in Florida,” the Florence Morning News reported.
According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, some of the Pompano Beach native’s charges include accusations “of forcing several people into a car after he suspected somebody of breaking into his house,” being arrested in “a suspected drug deal,” and “possession of cannabis.”
According to the conditions of his bond, Kodak is not permitted to comment on the allegations against him by way of print, electronic, digital or social media.
Violating these terms could result in his bond being revoked, which explains why he stormed out of a Hot 97 interview when host Ebro asked him about the pending case.
Kodak has also been ordered not to have any contact with the victim or her family.
