Leaf Ward Gets Almost Four Years After Pleading Guilty To Machine Gun Possession

BY Gabriel Bras Nevares 1113 Views
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Credit: Instagram @leafward
The Philly native also got three years of supervised release.

Philadelphia rapper Leaf Ward has just received his prison sentence for various firearm charges that he pleaded guilty to, according to a report from AllHipHop. Earlier this week, the 27-year-old – under the authority of U.S. District Court Judge Joel H. Slomsky – received 46 months in prison, a $25,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. The charges that the Philly MC pleaded guilty to include various counts of unauthorized firearm possession, and the machine gun charge in particular proved to be a big point of contention. Also, his status as a convicted felon also negatively impacted the severity of his sentence and these charges.

This legal saga for Leaf Ward began back in August of 2023 at a Bahama Breeze restaurant near Pennsylvania's King of Prussia Mall, where law enforcement claimed they saw him arrive in a vehicle that he stole. Authorities tasked with routine parking lot surveillance discovered that his plates indicated a stolen car out of Philadelphia, and they began the process of towing the vehicle. But when the rapper got out of Bahama Breeze with his girlfriend and saw what was going on, he rushed back in and tried to get rid of evidence against him.

Leaf Ward's "Mob Music"

The evidence in question, according to court filings, was a loaded Glock .40 caliber pistol with an illegal "switch." Witness claim they saw Leaf Ward throw a gun into a trash can in the restaurant's kitchen. Nevertheless, law enforcement officers chased him through the Bahama Breeze restaurant and eventually arrested him behind the building. They also recovered the loaded gun from the trash can. For those unfamiliar with Ward, he has a couple of big hits like "They Forgot 3," "Concrete," and "Close Range" that garnered their fair share of buzz on streaming platforms.

"Despite two prior gun convictions, Ward continued to wield these weapons, boldly displaying them in his videos and carrying them on the street,” U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero reportedly stated regarding the Leaf Ward case. “This office will continue to work with the ATF and our state and local partners to get guns out of the hands of people not permitted to have them, to tamp down violent crime and make the public safer."

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.

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