The husband of rapper Nicki Minaj has been sentenced to three years probation and one year of home detention for failing to register as a sex offender in California.
Kenneth Petty, who married Minaj in 2019, pleaded guilty to the federal charge in 2021, CBS News reported. He was also ordered to pay a $55,000 fine, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Petty moved to Los Angeles in July 2019, months before his marriage to Minaj, and “knowingly failed” to register as a sex offender as per the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, USA TODAY reported. He was arrested in 2020.
Petty was convicted of attempted rape in 1995 after a 1994 incident involving himself and a victim. They were both 16 at the time.
Petty served less than four years behind bars before he was released in 1999.
The victim in the case, Jennifer Hough, spoke out last year about Petty and Minaj’s alleged defamation and witness intimidation attempts following Petty’s 2020 arrest.
“What he did to me and my family wasn’t OK,” Hough said at the time. “It wasn’t right, and it doesn’t matter how much money you have, it doesn’t matter what your status is. You can’t intimidate people to make things go better for you, and that’s what they did.”
In a statement to USA TODAY, Petty’s attorney Michael Goldstein said his team “appreciate[s] and respect[s]” the decision by the court on Wednesday.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.