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Court to Willie D: No Internet For You

Posted Jun 19th 2009 12:30PM by Theo Bark
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Geto Boys rapper Willie D was arrested in May for running an iPhone scam operation on eBay. The 42-year-old Houston MC, born William James Dennis, allegedly posed as an electronics salesman for a phone company called Texas One Wireless, directing buyers away from the popular internet auction site to conduct iPhone sales via email.

Once the funds were sent, Dennis would cease communication, failing to send the product for which he was paid. Since the transactions were conducted outside of eBay, the buyers had no official recourse, so they were forced to contact the authorities.

On June 9th, Dennis was indicted on 15 counts of wire fraud. He faces up 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Dennis posted bail two weeks ago, and under the terms of his bond, he is unable to travel or use the internet.

His lawyer has filed a motion to reverse this decision, citing travel and internet usage as necessary for his client's rap career, producing documents to show that Dennis has already lost a planned appearance in Cleveland due to the terms of his bail.

Apparently, the judge didn't realize how crucial Willie D's MySpace game is. Imagine what a legally enforced internet ban would mean for the careers of Charles Hamilton or Soulja Boy.