Georgia Entertainment Scene
Georgia Entertainment Scene

21 Savage’s felony theft charge dropped

21 Savage to Employ 150 Kids Through Expanded Bank Account Campaign The rapper is on a mission to teach kids across the country financial literacy. Savage has partnered with Get Schooled and JUMA to host a monthly seminar online. 21 Savage, via promotional video The courses, which are just one part of the campaign, will run until May. Additionally, Savage will find 150 at-risk kids in Atlanta to receive training and employment at JUMA's concession stands. He has promised to donate $15,000 so that
By Melissa Ruggieri
March 1, 2019

Two weeks after being booked into and quickly released from a South Georgia jail on a felony theft by deception warrant, 21 Savage has cleared one legal hurdle.

The Liberty County District Attorney’s office rejected the felony case, which stemmed from a September 2016 concert booking, and deemed it a civil matter. The Atlanta rapper was expected to perform at Club Bomaz in Hinesville and received a $17,000 payment from promoter Sadaetirs Smith. 21 Savage, legally known as She’yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, accepted the money but never performed.

Smith filed for a warrant in October 2016, but didn’t pursue the matter until 21 Savage was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Feb. 3 for overstaying his visa and being in the country illegally. The rapper spent 10 days in the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla before a federal immigration judge in Atlanta approved his release on a $100,000 bond.

His clearance in the felony case, which his attorneys called “a civil contract dispute,” means there are no outstanding warrants against 21 Savage as he awaits the next steps in his deportation case.

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About the Author

Melissa Ruggieri has covered music and entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution since 2010 and created the Atlanta Music Scene blog. She's kept vampire hours for more than two decades and remembers when MTV was awesome.

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