LOGAN — Kentrell Desean Gaulden, a.k.a. rapper NBA YoungBoy, who was sentenced to just under two years in prison on gun-related charges, was pardoned by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
The rapper was originally arrested after Cache County Sheriff’s deputies discovered an undercover drug ring, where he would have friends and family fill phony prescriptions at pharmacies in Cache Valley.
Gaulden said in an online statement, “I want to thank President Trump for granting me a pardon and giving me the opportunity to keep building — as a man, as a father, and as an artist.”
Gaulden’s pardon was confirmed Wednesday evening by two White House officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail actions that had not yet been formally made public.
In 2024, Gaulden was sentenced by a federal judge in Utah after he acknowledged possessing weapons despite being a convicted felon. He reached an agreement that resolved the Utah state charges against him and settled two sets of federal charges against him — one carried a 23-month sentence and the other ordered five years of probation and a $200,000 fine.
Gaulden was released from federal prison in March and sent to home confinement after receiving credit for time served, according to his attorney Drew Findling. With home confinement finished last month, the pardon means he won’t have to follow the terms of his probation, including drug testing, he said.
In April 2024, Gaulden was arrested by deputies for calling in fraudulent prescriptions under the names of real doctors and using fake patient names and birthdates. Callers linked to Gaulden would phone in prescriptions using the name of a real doctor in Provo, in some cases – but provide fake patient information. Individuals would then pick up the order from pharmacies, mainly promethazine and codeine.
The rapper was arrested at his Weber County home and held in the Cache County Jail until accepting a plea deal, pleading “no contest” to two counts of forgery and two counts of identity fraud, both third-degree felonies; and six counts of unlawful pharmacy conduct, a class A misdemeanor. He was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine.
Gaulden, whose stage moniker stands for “Never Broke Again,” is preparing to set out on a major U.S. tour in September.