Federal agents arrest rapper who was on the run for months

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — U.S. Marshals in Tennessee have arrested a Georgia rapper who was wanted for nearly three months after violating his probation by melting off his court-ordered ankle monitor and disappearing, according to authorities.

Kwame Khalil Brown was arrested by a U.S. Marshal’s Office task force Thursday in Memphis on a fugitive from justice warrant, The Athens Banner-Herald reported Monday, citing Memphis police.

The 27-year-old Atlanta-based rapper goes by the name Foogiano and is represented by Gucci Mane.

Brown was wanted in Greene County, Georgia, where he was released on a $50,000 bond in December 2020 for a probation violation stemming from a firearms charge, authorities said. He was initially on probation for a 2015 burglary and was ordered to wear an ankle monitor following the probation violation. He was accused of later removing and destroying the device.

Authorities had not known his whereabouts until he was arrested last week at a private residence in Memphis, The Banner-Herald quoted Chris Wright, an inspector with the U.S. Marshal’s Southeast Regional Task Force, as saying. Wright said he could not disclose how agents located Brown.

The rapper was also named in an ongoing lawsuit filed by the estate of a victim in the July 2020 shooting at the Lavish Lounge in Greenville, South Carolina. Authorities said Jarquez K. Cooper, a member of Brown’s entourage, opened fire into the audience from onstage, killing two people and wounding eight.

Cooper was charged with murder and attempted murder and remains in a Greenville jail. Brown and Gucci Mane were not charged in the shooting.

Greene County Sheriff Donnie Harrison said Monday that his office was awaiting an extradition order on the fugitive warrant. Brown was set to appear in court in Memphis this Friday, according to jail records.

It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could comment for him.

The Associated Press