Fetty Wap to Spend a Minimum of Five Years in Prison After Pleading Guilty to Federal Drug Charges

Rapper Fetty Wap, seen here in a 2019 mugshot, has 

plead guilty to drug trafficking. 

Rapper Fetty Wap will spend at least five years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court Monday to conspiracy to possess and distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine.

The charge carries a mandatory five-year prison sentence, but the 31-year-old "Trap Queen" artist could face up to 40 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Wap — whose real name is Willie Junior Maxwell II — and five co-defendants were accused of conspiring to possess and distribute more than 220 pounds of heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine between June 2019 and June 2020.

Prosecutors allege the defendants used the U.S. Postal Service and cars with hidden compartments to move drugs from the West Coast to Long Island, where they were stored for distribution to dealers on Long Island and in New Jersey.

The plea comes two weeks after the artist, who had been released on a $500,000 bond following his arrest in October, was returned to jail for threatening to kill someone and brandishing a gun during a FaceTime call in December.

A sentencing date has yet to be set by the court, but an attorney for the rapper has requested the process be expedited.

Wap's 2015 eponymous debut album thrust him to the forefront of the music world. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and featured four Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles, including the diamond-certified "Trap Queen" which peaked at No. 2. and earned the musician two Grammy nominations.