A day after Sean Kingston and his mother were arrested on numerous fraud and theft charges, the singer and rapper faces extradition from California to Florida while his mother could return home from jail by the end of the day, according to the family’s attorney.
The home she returns to will be different from the way she left it. Authorities raided Kingston’s sprawling Southwest Ranches mansion Thursday, filling U-Haul trucks with items and towing away at least one of the cars parked in the driveway. Kingston’s mother, Janice Turner, was handcuffed at the scene and taken to the Broward Main Jail, where she has remained, inmate records show. Late Thursday, Kingston was arrested on a Broward Sheriff’s Office warrant at the Fort Irwin military base in California.
Both Kingston and his mother are accused of receiving goods and services they never paid for in lawsuits spanning the last several years, sometimes naming the two together or one of them individually. Kingston is accused of failing to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and over $1 million in luxury watches, according to a recent complaint. This month, a lawsuit accused his mother of failing to pay several months of the $25,000 monthly rent for a beachside home in Fort Lauderdale.
Kingston was arrested about 5 p.m. Thursday near the Fort Irwin military base, San Bernadino County inmate records show. He is being held at the West Valley Detention Center.
Kingston had been scheduled to perform at the base about 4 p.m. for the final night of “Desert Warrior Week,” according to Fort Irwin’s social media page. Some people wrote online that they had watched Kingston’s performance only to learn of his arrest shortly thereafter.
The singer has made appearances at other military bases in recent months; in March, he was a lead performer at Fort Johnson’s “ForgeFest,” according to the base’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation website.
The family’s attorney, Robert Rosenblatt, said that Kingston will waive his extradition hearing and return to Florida over the coming days. It could take as long as two weeks for Kingston to make it back, depending on how deputies decide to transport him.
Meanwhile, Kingston’s mother remained in jail following her first appearance Friday morning. She will be held until prosecutors can assess the funds she is putting up for her bail and ensure they come from legitimate sources, due to the nature of the charges against her.
Rosenblatt said that his office is in the process of removing the hold on Turner and anticipates she will be released later Friday.
“She’ll be back in Southwest Ranches resting her head on a pillow tonight,” he said.
SWAT teams, deputies and some alleged victims descended on the house Thursday, removing items that Kingston and his mother are accused of never paying for, according to an attorney who was at the scene.
Dennis Card, who represents Ver Ver Entertainment, said he went into the home Thursday with his client. According to the company’s February lawsuit, workers installed a home theater and audio system at the home which Kingston and his mother never paid for in full. Card said the whole thing cost an estimated $150,000, but his clients only received a $30,000 down payment, according to the complaint.
On Thursday, his client and multiple workers took the whole system apart.
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