SAN BERNARDINO, CA — Rapper and singer Sean Kingston waived his right to fight extradition in a California court on Tuesday and agreed to turn himself over to Florida authorities. Florida authorities accused him and his mother of defrauding more than $1 million.
Kingston, 34, did not appear in open court but signed papers agreeing to skip an extradition hearing, San Bernardino court representatives and the sheriff’s office told The Associated Press.
He remained in a Southern California jail Tuesday afternoon, but sheriff’s officials are working with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office to return him to Florida, sheriff’s spokeswoman Mara Rodriguez said in an email.
Kingston was arrested Thursday at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California’s Mojave Desert where he was performing.
His mother, Janice Turner, 61, was arrested the same day when a SWAT team raided Kingston’s rented mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Kingston and Turner are charged with carrying out an organized scheme to commit fraud, grand larceny, identity theft and related crimes, according to arrest warrants released by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. They stole money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade and furniture, according to the warrant.
The Jamaican-American had a No. 1 hit with “Beautiful Girls” in 2007 and collaborated with Justin Bieber on the song “Eenie Meenie.”
Robert Rosenblatt, an attorney for Kingston and his mother, said Friday they plan to waive extradition and said they look forward to resolving the charges in Florida courts and are “confident of a successful resolution.”
An email sent to Rosenblatt for further comment Tuesday was not immediately answered.
Warrants in the case say he stole nearly $500,000 worth of jewelry from October to March: more than $200,000 from Bank of America, $160,000 from an Escalade dealer, more than $100,000 from First Republic Bank and $86,000 from a custom bed manufacturer. there is. No specific details were provided.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, was already serving two years of probation for trafficking stolen property.
Federal court records show his mother pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud charges for stealing more than $160,000 and served nearly a year and a half in prison.
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Associated Press writer Terry Spencer contributed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
