In a case of good news, bad news for Nicki Minaj and her husband Kenneth Petty, the charges against Petty have been dropped in Los Angeles after he was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender. Unfortunately, that’s only because he faces similar charges in federal court, according to The Blast and verified by Pitchfork.
As a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told Pitchfork, “The Kenneth Petty case was dismissed today because he faces similar charges in federal court.” New York State’s Sex Offender Registry guidelines mandate that an offender must notify the Division of Criminal Justice Services within 10 days of any change of address. Petty moved to LA in July 2019 when he and Nicki were first married and authorities became aware of his status after he was pulled over in November last year. He was arrested March 4 after turning himself in and released $20,000 bond after pleading “not guilty.”
Petty must register as a sex offender because of a 1995 conviction for first-degree rape when he was 16 years old. He was accused of coercing a girl to have sex with him using a knife. He was sentenced to 18 to 54 months in prison and must remain on the list as a “level-two” offender with a “moderate” risk of a repeat offense. Since Nicki’s marriage to Petty, they’ve been near inseparable; the couple reportedly got into a heated argument with Nicki’s ex-boyfriend Meek Mill in Beverly Hills in January and Petty helped debut Nicki’s new song “Yikes” with a teaser video on Instagram. Watch it here.
