Under the warm Californian sun, Tuesday unfurled a noteworthy turn of events in San Bernardino for rapper and singer Sean Kingston. The artist, drenched in legal woes with his mother facing allegations of fraud numbering into seven figures, forfeited his right to resist extradition. He agreed to acquiesce to the jurisdiction of Florida, where the curtain of clouds casting shadows over their lives currently gathers.
Kingston, at 34, weathered the storm behind the scene. He made no public spectacle in a court appearance but instead accepted his fate in the confines of a paperwork-laden room, presenting his agreement to bypass extradition hearings. The statement was confirmed by representatives from both the San Bernardino courts and the sheriff’s department.
The enfolding tides saw him still ensconced within the Southern California jail come Tuesday afternoon, but as the pendulum of justice swings, sheriff’s officials are preparing to orchestrate his transfer to the sun-streaked land of Florida. The coordination with Broward County Sheriff’s Office was disclosed by sheriff’s spokeswoman Mara Rodriguez in a succinctly-worded missive.
The ripples of this case originated last Thursday, with the arrest of Kingston at Fort Irwin, a military oasis in the arid vastness of California’s Mojave Desert, where he was scheduled to perform. In a grim echo, his mother, Janice Turner, aged 61, was seized the same day. The event unfolded under the intimidating presence of a SWAT team that raided Kingston’s rented palatial mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The intricate webs of charges entwining both Kingston and Turner include an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft, and related crimes. These were listed in arrest warrants issued by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. The warrants insinuated that the duo had purloined money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade, and furniture.
Kingston, the Jamaican-American artist who rose to fame with the No. 1 hit “Beautiful Girls” in 2007 and joined forces with Justin Bieber for the song “Eenie Meenie”, goes by the legal name of Kisean Anderson. His attorney, Robert Rosenblatt, on Friday voiced the pair’s intent to relinquish extradition, ensnared by a poignant hope to confront the charges in a Florida court.
According to the warrants, from October to March, the duo allegedly pilfered almost $500,000 in jewelry, over $200,000 from Bank of America, $160,000 from an Escalade dealership, over $100,000 from First Republic Bank and a cool $86,000 from a high-end bed manufacturer. Still, the specifics in this case remain vague, shrouded in mystery and intrigue.
Kingston was already ensnared in the punitive trap of a two-year probation for trafficking stolen property at the time of his latest arrest.
Trimmed with an analogous history of illegal endeavor, his mother Turner has also tasted the bitter pill of legal fallout for her wrongdoings. Turner pled guilty to bank fraud charges – with the stolen amount eclipsing $160,000 – in 2006 and served a near decade and a half within the cold, embittering grip of prison.
