2 Chainz Found Not Guilty on Marijuana Charges
2 Chainz was found not guilty on Wednesday on marijuana charges stemming from a traffic stop in Maryland in February. The rapper, born Tauheed Epps, beat the marijuana possession and possession of paraphernalia charges due to uncertainly about who owned a marijuana grinder found in his van.
The van the MC was riding in was stopped for speeding on the way to a show at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore campus on February 14th. According to Maryland’s Star Democrat, police officers smelled burning marijuana coming from the vehicle, and searched it under probable cause. The search turned up a grinder inside a gray bag inside another camouflage-colored bag. The rapper told police the camouflage bag was his, but denied responsibility for the gray bag.
2 Chainz Arrested in Maryland on Marijuana Charge
As he was getting arrested, 2 Chainz asked his traveling crew who owned the grinder, and Harold Folsome Jr., a security guard, claimed responsibility for putting the grinder in the bag. Folsome helps pack and move 2 Chainz’s luggage as part of his job. He told police that he was in a Baltimore hotel room with 2 Chainz and two other people when they started to get ready to leave. Folsome claimed he started grabbing items around the room and stuffing them into the camouflage bag, which then made it into the van.
Folsome denied that he was the owner of the grinder and said he did not know whose it was. He said he took responsibility because he was the one who put it there and felt accountable. “When I saw what it was, I knew what I did,” Folsome said. 2 Chainz’s attorney maintained there was no evidence that the gray bag belonged to the rapper.
Talbot County District Court Judge William H. Adkins III said in his verdict that he saw the case as a paraphernalia case, and that 2 Chainz’s couldn’t be found responsible for owning the grinder despite it “clearly” being in his bag. “It belonged to somebody in that room. As for who, I don’t know,” Adkins said.