Chief Keef Ties Up Illinois Legal System
Chief Keef had a busy day in court on Monday: The Chicago rapper appeared in a Skokie, Illinois, courthouse to plead guilty to speeding charges, and was also served with his second paternity suit in a year. Later, he was arrested by police on a month-old trespassing complaint after leaving the courthouse, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Police from Chicago’s South Side drove more than 20 miles to arrest the 17-year-old rapper (real name Keith Farrelle Cozart) on the misdemeanor trespassing charge; though according to his attorney Leah Starkman, Cozart was processed and then released without bail. The initial trespassing complaint was made by a security guard from the Parkway Gardens housing complex, who saw the rapper on the property back in May.
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“His management believes he’s being harassed by the police,” said Starkman, who just began representing Cozart. “I know that he’s on the police radar, but I don’t know if it’s harassment.”
Keef’s camp accused the police of using excessive force in the arrest, claiming “it is not normal practice for police to come from the South Side armed with AK47s to arrest a person on misdemeanor trespassing charges, but clearly Chief Keef is a special young man that garners special treatment from the Chicago Police Department” in a statement to the local hip-hop site FakeShoreDrive. Chicago police declined to comment.
As for Cozart’s speeding charge – he was clocked going 110 in a 55 mph zone – Cook County Circuit Court Judge Earl Hoffenberg fined him $531, put him on probation for 18 months, ordered him to perform 60 hours of community service, complete eight hours of traffic school and undergo random drug testing.
“You think you’re invincible, and you’re certainly not,” Judge Hoffenberg said. “Violate [the conditions of the plea agreement] and you’ll find out you’re not . . . I sure hope I don’t see you again, because if I do, you better be ready to go to jail.” Cozart made no comment in court.
The paternity suit filed claims that Cozart is the biological father of a little girl. The MC’s other case, filed back in January by a different woman, is still pending.
This is far from Cozart’s first run in with the law: Back in March the rapper finished a 60-day sentence after violating the terms of his probation from a previous weapons charge conviction; and just a few weeks ago, Cozart was taken into custody in Atlanta on a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.