Pooh Shiesty will remain in jail after his bombshell arrest for allegedly barricading Gucci Mane in a Dallas recording studio and forcing the 1017 Records boss to sign a label deal release at gunpoint.
Shiesty (Lontrell Williams Jr.) was denied bail following a Wednesday (April 8) evidentiary hearing in Texas federal court, where he was charged last week with kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping over the alleged “armed takeover” in January. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
“Based on the credible evidence presented at the hearing, the court finds probable cause to believe that defendant committed the law violations alleged in the criminal complaint,” wrote U.S. Magistrate Judge Renée Harris Toliver in a detention order obtained by Billboard.
Wednesday’s hearing featured testimony from an FBI agent about police reports given the night of the incident, when Shiesty allegedly pulled an AK-style pistol during a business meeting and forced Mane to release him from 1017. Though Mane (born Radric Davis) has not been named in court, the charging documents identify this victim as “R.D.” and describe him as the head of 1017.
Shiesty’s attorney, Bradford Cohen, told reporters after the hearing that the entire case rests on “very questionable” witness statements, noting, “The FBI doesn’t take three months to arrest someone if they believe everything that was said on the night that it occurred.”
“They have no contract,” said Cohen. “They have no video of this alleged signing of a contract. They have no guns. They have no jewelry. They have none of that physical evidence.”
Shiesty was charged last week alongside eight alleged co-conspirators, including his father, Lontrell Williams Sr., and the rapper Big30 (Rodney Wright Jr.). Prosecutors say these individuals barricaded the recording studio and robbed Mane’s associates of Rolex watches, a 1017 chain and a Louis Vuitton bag.
The alleged incident came just a few months after Shiesty’s release from prison on federal gun charges. He was still on post-release house arrest in January — a factor cited by Judge Toliver in Wednesday’s detention order.
“In light of that fact and the fact that the conditions of pretrial release at this court’s disposal are the same or similar to those defendant has already violated, the court finds that there is no condition or combination of conditions the court can impose in this case which will reasonably assure defendant’s appearance as required or the safety of the community or another person if released,” wrote the judge.
