Even famous people break the law. Many celebrities have gone to jail over the years, including comedian Tim Allen, domestic guru Martha Stewart, and actor Kiefer Sutherland. A good chunk of these stars committed minor offenses involving DUI charges or financial crimes. They serve rather short sentences and are often (but not always) able to pick up their lives where they left off. Society can be very forgiving when it comes to those who do their time and repent their crimes.
Then there are the celebrities whose criminal activities are on an entirely different level, necessitating several years in prison. They’ve committed crimes that are so bad, it’s next to impossible for fans to forget what they did. The men and women in this list have been involved in sex crimes, trafficked huge amounts of drugs, and even committed murder. Some admit that they broke the law, while others continue to maintain their innocence. Either way, they’re stuck behind bars for a very long time.
It’s unclear what they will do when they’re released from prison. Some may die while serving out their sentences, while others may disappear from public scrutiny. Regardless, their legacies are forever linked to their poor choices in judgment.
The following article includes mentions of domestic abuse, child abuse, and sexual assault.
Hip-hop star Marion Hugh “Suge” Knight Jr. was the CEO of Death Row Records, and in January 2015, he had an altercation with a man named Cle “Bone” Sloan, who worked on the biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” according to The Cinemaholic. The fight got so intense that Knight ended up grazing Sloan with his vehicle and running over a man named Terry Carter, who died from his injuries. Knight initially claimed his actions were in self-defense and that he was being chased by two armed men.
Three years later, Knight entered a plea deal and was sentenced to 22 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter and six years for a third strike violation, which totaled 28 years behind bars. He has been serving time at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, California, since 2018 and isn’t eligible for parole until 2037.
Not long after he was sent to prison, Knight claimed that Dr. Dre was behind a plot to assassinate him. He told The Blast it was a murder-for-hire scheme with a paper trail and proof that Dre was involved in a plan that would “get rid” of Knight.
You probably remember a man named Jared Fogle from the Subway sandwich commercials. When he was just 20 years old, he weighed over 400 pounds. He decided to change his life in 1998 by exercising and eating two sandwiches from Subway every day. He lost more than half of his body weight in less than one year, according to the Los Angeles Times. He then appeared in a Men’s Health article and soon became a spokesman for Subway, appearing in his first commercial for the sandwich shop in 2000. He had parlayed his weight loss into an income-earning gig.
A few years later, things took a very dark turn.
During a plea deal with authorities in 2015, he confessed to receiving child pornography and having sex with minors, according to NPR. He was involved in interstate travel to pay for sex and possessed 400 videos of illicit pornography. Even worse, many of the videos were sent to him by the head of his charity, according to prosecutors in the case against him. Fogle was sentenced to over 15 years in prison and won’t be eligible for parole until he’s served at least 13 years. Fogle was also reportedly ordered to pay restitution to 14 minors that he assaulted, to the tune of $1.4 million.
Michael Jace, who you may know for the television police drama “The Shield,” shot his wife in front of their two children in their Los Angeles home in 2014. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the murder, reported CNN. The motive for the killing appeared to be jealousy. His wife, April Jace, wanted a divorce, and the 53-year-old actor was convinced she was dating another man.
When April returned to their home on May 19, 2014, Michael shot her several times while their sons, ages 8 and 5, looked on. He called 911 and his father-in-law after the incident and admitted to the crime. Michael had a history of violent behavior: A friend of his first wife revealed in a sworn statement during a 2005 custody case that he had choked and hit his wife and slammed her against the wall.
Michael’s acting career spanned two decades. He also appeared in the show “Southland” and played basketball legend Michael Jordan in the made-for-TV movie “Michael Jordan: An American Hero.”
Film mogul Harvey Weinstein is in prison based on the allegations of just two people, Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann, even though dozens of women (a whopping 87, according to USA Today) spoke out about the sexual abuse they experienced at his hands over the years. Weinstein was arrested in New York and charged with rape, committing a criminal sex act, sexual abuse, and sexual misconduct, in 2018, according to Biography. Investigators in California and London were also targeting the producer for sex crimes.
Before he went to trial, Weinstein posted $1 million bail and was ordered to wear an ankle monitor. He was later indicted on charges of rape in the first and third degrees, a first-degree criminal sexual act, and other felony sex charges. The entire time, Weinstein refuted the charges and indicated that the women were willing participants in his sexual conquests. At one point during the investigation, a spokeswoman told USA Today, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
In 2020, the producer was found guilty of committing a criminal sexual act against Haley and rape in the third degree. He was found not guilty of predatory sexual assault and rape in the first degree against Mann. Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison and is a registered sex offender.
New Orleans rapper C-Murder, born Corey Miller, was convicted of second-degree murder for killing a teen named Steve Thomas in a nightclub in 2002. The rapper started serving a life sentence in Louisiana State Penitentiary in 2009, according to NBC News. However, there’s a twist in his case: Since his incarceration, two major eyewitnesses came forward to recant their testimony. Plus, an unlikely ally has come to his defense: reality star Kim Kardashian.
In April 2020, the Supreme Court determined that jury verdicts in trials involving serious crimes must agree unanimously. In Miller’s case, he was convicted 10-2. Kardashian, who was studying to be an attorney, tweeted at the time, “Since his trial, witnesses have recanted, new evidence of his potential innocence has come to light, and there are claims of jurors being pressured into voting to convict.”
One witness, Kenneth Jordan, revealed that he was pressured to lie about C-Murder because he feared being imprisoned himself on unrelated charges. The other witness, Darnell Jordan, also claimed he felt pressured to lie under oath. Meanwhile, the convicted rapper has claimed he’s innocent of all charges. In 2023, however, a a federal judge upheld C-Murder’s conviction, arguing the recanted testimony by Kenneth and Darnell Jordan wasn’t reliable.
Singer R. Kelly was arrested by the feds on July 11, 2019, in Chicago. He and a few associates allegedly recruited young girls for sexual encounters, isolated them from their families, and controlled them so they wouldn’t seek help, according to the Chicago Tribune. An indictment was filed in a U.S. District Court in New York City, and Chicago prosecutors also issued an indictment claiming Kelly paid off witnesses and victims in a 2008 child pornography trial.
Trial dates in New York were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While Kelly was in a Chicago federal jail awaiting trial, he was attacked by Latin King gang member Jeremiah Shane Farmer in August 2020. Farmer beat the star up while he was in bed, and Kelly reportedly sustained a serious concussion during the incident.
In June 2022, Kelly was given 30 years in prison following his sex trafficking conviction the year before, as per Forbes, while in September he was found guilty of producing child pornography, with his attorneys requesting the sentence be limited to 11 years (via Vibe).
In 2013, actress Shannon Guess Richardson, known for her role on “The Walking Dead,” pleaded guilty to developing, producing, possessing, and transferring a toxin with the intent to use it as a weapon, according to the Texarkana Gazette. She mailed threatening, poison-laced letters to then-President Barack Obama and two other people. Richardson bought supplies for the plot using a credit card and account under her husband’s name, and she made the poison ricin using castor beans in the home she shared with her husband and four children. She was also pregnant while making the concoction.
She mailed the letters to Obama, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, and a man named Michael Glaze, who was employed by Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The FBI collected and examined all of the correspondence. Richardson wrote about gun control in the letters and tried to set up her husband for the crime by planting evidence in his car and lunchbox. Despite her attempt to frame him, she was arrested in 2013 and eventually given an 18-year sentence.
Richardson is serving time in a federal prison in Forth Worth, Texas, and could be released in 2029. She is not eligible for parole.
Nathaniel Glover, aka Kidd Creole, is a founding member of hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. In 2017, Glover, 61, was arrested and charged with murder in the second degree after stabbing a man named John Jolly in the chest. Glover and Jolly, a registered sex offender, had an altercation in midtown Manhattan, according to The Source.
During an interview in March 2021, Glover was eager to tell his side of the story. He has previously been labeled as homophobic but insisted he merely acted in self-defense and disputed reports that he had problems with the LGBTQ community. Glover claimed he was minding his own business when Jolly aggressively pursued him and appeared to have harmful intentions. Glover initially thought Jolly was trying to pick him up before the latter began to follow him.
He explained, “I’m suffering. I’m locked in a room 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, day in, day out, not knowing what my fate is going to be because my case is dragging on. It’s very difficult for me right now.”
It wasn’t until 2022 that Glover went to trial, where he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison, reports The New York Times.
Todd and Julie Chrisley achieved widespread recognition for their reality show, “Chrisley Knows Best,” which first debuted in 2014. The program follows the married couple and their children in the South as they go about their lives as a regular family -– that just happens to be incredibly rich. So how did the Chrisley clan get so wealthy? Well, Todd is a highly successful entrepreneur and real estate developer who applies his uncompromising business ethics to governing his family, leading to no shortage of drama. Despite Todd’s ever-watchful eye on the goings-on of his household, there’s always someone getting into trouble or causing some turmoil. “Chrisley Knows Best” was popular enough to lead to various spinoffs, including “According to Chrisley,” web series “What’s Cooking With Julie Chrisley,” and podcast “Chrisley Confessions.”
Unfortunately, things got even more real for the reality TV family when Todd and Julie found themselves embroiled in a difficult legal problem. According to ET, the couple were charged with tax evasion, conspiracy, bank fraud, and wire fraud, on August 12, 2019. This culminated on June 7, 2022, with the both of them being found guilty on all counts, though with separate sentences. CNN states that Todd’s 12-year sentence is being spent at FPC Pensacola, as Julie spends her sentence of seven years at FMC Lexington, Kentucky. In 2023, the couple’s prison sentences were shortened, with Todd expected to be released in 2033 and Julie in 2028.
Joe Exotic entered the public consciousness with the release of the massively popular 2020 Netflix documentary series, “Tiger King.” It chronicled the bizarre world of big cat collectors with an emphasis on the even more bizarre Exotic who, in addition to running the G.W. Zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, also dabbled in guns, cultivating a career in country music, and running for political office. The docuseries shone a spotlight on the cast of eccentric characters that populated the world of big cat collecting and the madcap antics they got up to. However, the highlight of the show was Exotic’s intensifying clashes with Carole Baskin, an animal rights activist, which culminated in his attempt to eliminate her -– for good -– by hiring a hitman for $3,000.
Of course, Exotic’s murder-for-hire scheme didn’t go unnoticed by the authorities, nor did his other unlawful actions. According to CNN, his other crimes included the killing of five tigers, selling baby lemurs despite filing them as donations, and other wildlife violations. In 2020, the United States Attorney’s Office Western District of Oklahoma handed Exotic a 22-year prison sentence, in addition to three years of supervised release after he served his sentence. Bloomberg Law states that, while he managed to reduce his sentence by one year previously, Exotic’s 2022 appeal to decrease it by another 8.5 years was shot down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Josh Duggar’s claim to fame is one of 10 sons (among 19 total children) of the Duggar family, the focus of the reality TV series, “19 Kids and Counting.” Because the family is so devoted to their Baptist faith, parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have been open about not using birth control, which is why they have so many offspring. While a big part of the show’s fascination lies in seeing how the two parents deal with raising so many kids at once, it’s the strict religious manner with which the family functions that has made “19 Kids and Counting” so interesting to watch. In the Duggar household, the children are only allowed to watch family-friendly TV shows, modest clothing must be worn, and chaperoned courtship is practiced.
Unfortunately, those rigid religious beliefs didn’t prevent the Duggar’s oldest child, Josh Duggar, from engaging in various crimes. Newsweek states that Josh first attracted controversy in 2015 when word spread of his supposed molestation of multiple young girls, among which were several of his sisters. His legal troubles got worse when he was charged with possession of child pornography, to which he pleaded not guilty. As stated in 40/29 News, Josh was found guilty on the charges of receiving and possessing child pornography in 2021, resulting in a prison sentence lasting 12 years and seven months. Despite an appeal in 2023, Josh’s sentence was upheld.
Ryan Grantham was a young Canadian actor whose career once held so much promise until he threw it all away with a terrible mistake. Throughout his relatively brief acting stint, he appeared in almost 40 movies and TV shows. His acting debut was in the 2007 television movie “The Secret of the Nutcracker,” which was followed by a role in the big-budget sci-fi action film, “Jumper,” in 2008. Grantham was seen in a variety of other film and TV projects before showing up in some higher-profile movies as Little Anton in Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” and Rodney James in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid.” The rest of Grantham’s career largely consisted of TV shows such as “iZombie,” “Supernatural,” and “Riverdale,” his final acting credit.
However, Grantham’s auspicious career in Hollywood came to a tragic end when, on March 31, 2020, shot his mother in the back of the head, reports The New York Times. Long after his brutal crime, Grantham made a video confession and even planned to kill Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He decided not to, ultimately turning himself over to the authorities the following day. Grantham was given a lifelong prison sentence with the possibility of parole after 14 years. His attorney Chris Johnson recently revealed to TMZ that the imprisoned actor “advised me that he’s doing well, getting the help he needs, and has gained some insight into what happened and why. He regrets what he did to his mother.”
Tory Lanez (whose real name is Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson) was a rapper who first garnered widespread attention with the release of his 2013 mixtape, “Conflicts of My Soul: The 416 Story.” Three years later, after signing to Benny Blanco’s record label Mad Love Records in a collaboration with Interscope Records, Lanez released his first full-length album, “I Told You.” The album was a considerable success, largely due to its hit singles “Say It” and “Luv,” the latter of which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Song. Lanez capitalized on his popularity in 2018 with two more albums, “Memories Don’t Die” and “Love Me Now?” The album of his that ranked highest on the Billboard 200 chart was 2019’s “Chixtape 5,” which came in at number two.
However, what started out as the beginnings of a long and successful career as a hip-hop and R&B artist was cut short when, in 2020, Lanez shot popular recording artist Megan Thee Stallion with an unregistered semiautomatic firearm, leaving her with minor injuries, as stated in AP News. He was found guilty of multiple charges and remained in jail until his sentencing in August 2023,where he received 10 years in prison.
Amy Locane is an actress who got her first big break with a recurring role as Andrea Winger in the short-lived 1980s sitcom, “Spencer.” She mostly stuck to television for the next few years, but it wasn’t long until she made her leap to the big screen in 1989’s “Lost Angels,” which also starred Donald Sutherland and Adam Horovitz. Locane followed this up with an even higher-profile film, the 1990 comedy musical “Cry-Baby,” alongside Johnny Depp and Ricki Lake. The rest of the 1990s saw the actress appear in a wide range of projects, including the hit TV series “Melrose Place,” the acclaimed drama “Blue Sky,” the biopic “Prefontaine,” and more.
Locane’s acting career experienced a massive setback when, after leaving a wrap party for a theater production she was a part of in 2010, she had too much to drink and caused two car accidents, as per The Guardian. However, it was the second accident that really got her into trouble, as she crashed into the car of Fred Seeman, resulting in the death of his wife, Helene Seeman. The actress was found guilty of two charges and was given an initial sentence of five years in prison, which was brought down to three. But Locane’s legal battles didn’t end there; Despite being paroled, NJ.com revealed that she has been given multiple sentences since she was first convicted in 2012 on the grounds that her initial sentences were not harsh enough — in 2020 she received a sentence of eight years.
As a child and young teenager, Danny Masterson popped up on TV shows like “Jake and the Fatman,” “Roseanne,” and “Cybill,” and in the family film “Beethoven’s 2nd” before landing his signature and most famous role: sarcastic teenage delinquent Steven Hyde for eight seasons of Fox’s hit period comedy “That ’70s Show.” After the series ended in 2006, Masterson focused on his side career as a DJ and co-starred on the Netflix sitcom “The Ranch.”
After three women filed criminal complaints, the Los Angeles Police opened an investigation on Masterson in 2017. Between 2001 and 2003, according to the allegations, Masterson sexually assaulted three women in his home in Hollywood. In June 2020, Masterson was arrested and made bail and stood trial on charges of forcible rape in December 2022, which ended without a verdict. The next trial in May 2023 ended in a conviction for Masterson on two rape charges, with a hung jury on the third count. Masterson was kept behind bars until his sentencing hearing in September 2023, where Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo sentenced the actor to 30 years to life in prison.
Joe Son appeared in small roles in B-level action movies in the ’90s, including “Shootfighter: Fighter to the Death” and “Bloodfist V: Human Target,” before being cast in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” as villainous henchman Random Task, a parody of James Bond movie minion Odd Job. All those roles came after his involvement in a serious crime, for which Son was convicted and sentenced well after he’d made a name for himself in Hollywood.
On Christmas Eve 1990, Son aided in the kidnapping, assault, torture, and group sexual assault of a woman. An unrelated incident in 2008 turned up DNA evidence that connected Son with those crimes, which earned Son a life sentence with no possibility of parole in 2011. Then, shortly after beginning serving his sentence, Son, a trained mixed martial arts combatant, kicked and punched his prison cellmate to death. Prosecutors asked a court for a second life sentence, but the jury found Son guilty on a lesser charge, voluntary manslaughter. For that murder, Son saw an additional 27 years added to his already unending sentence.
In the U.K., British musician Gary Glitter (real name: Paul Gadd) was one of the biggest stars of the glam rock era, racking up 15 top 40 hits in the ’70s, including the No. 1 smashes “Always Yours,” “I Love You Love Me Love,” and “I’m the Leader of the Gang.” In the U.S., he’s best known for the lyric-free 1972 song “Rock and Roll (Part 2),” a “Jock Jam” played at countless sporting events over the decades.
Gadd is also a repeatedly convicted sex offender. In 1999, he spent four months in prison in the U.K. after confessing to owning a collection of pornography depicting minors. Upon his release, he moved to Cambodia and was ordered to leave the country following allegations of criminal child abuse in 2002. He then settled in Vietnam, where in 2006 he was convicted of assaulting two girls, and he served more than two years in prison. Once back in the U.K., in 2008, Gadd was added to a sex offenders registry and in 2015 was convicted on crimes of a sexual nature involving children that dated to his 1970s rock star days. The musician reportedly assaulted two children backstage at a concert and attempted to assault a third child in her bed. Gadd was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Paroled in February 2023 after eight years in prison, authorities re-incarcerated Gadd a month later due to a parole violation. He was scheduled for a parole hearing in January 2024.
From 2011 to 2014, the Discovery Channel scored a reality TV hit with “Sons of Guns.” Tracking the day-to-day activities of Red Jacket, a weapons store in Louisiana and the family who ran it, shop owner William Hayden was front and center for most of the series’ episodes.
Right around the time that “Sons of Guns” wrapped up its run in 2014, Hayden was arrested for multiple sexual assaults on a minor. The accuser testified that in 2013 and 2014, when she was 11 and 12, Hayden raped her several times in his truck and at his home. During the trial, another woman came forward and took the stand to recount Hayden’s two sexual assaults in the early 1990s, when she was 12 and 13 years old. Hayden faced another charge when his daughter accused him of sexual assault. For all of those sex crimes committed against minors, Hayden was found guilty in 2017 of forcible and aggravated rape and was sentenced to two simultaneous life sentences and an additional 40 years. In another proceeding later in 2017, a judge handed down a third life sentence.
Defensive back Darren Sharper played in the NFL for 14 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings. During that span, he led the league in interception return yards three times and interceptions twice, earning him five Pro Bowl selections, a spot on the NFL’s all-2000s team, and a Super Bowl ring. Not long after he retired in 2010 and took a job as an analyst with the NFL Network, allegations about disturbing crimes he’d committed began to surface.
In February 2014, police in New Orleans arrested Sharper and another individual on charges of raping two women in New Orleans the previous year. At the time, the ex-football star was also the subject of investigation in similar sexual assault cases in Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and California. Investigations revealed that Sharper had also reportedly drugged the women prior to the assaults. In August 2016, a U.S. District Court in New Orleans sentenced Sharper to an 18-year and four-month prison term, plus three years of supervised release upon his parole. Three months later, a court in Los Angeles issued Sharper a 20-year sentence, to be served concurrently with the previous punishment.
Tammy Sytch, under the ring name Sunny, was a WWE superstar in the 1990s and 2000s. Acting the villain as part of the fitness-obsessed team The Bodydonnas, Sytch managed her male teammates, Zip and Skip, when they won the tag team bout at Wrestlemania XII. She’d ultimately go on to compete and perform for other wrestling operations but would be enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011.
In March 2022, Sytch was arrested after crashing her vehicle into a car stopped at an intersection in Ormond Beach, Florida. The individual in that car, 75-year-old Julian Lasseter, died from injuries suffered from the impact. A sobriety test indicated that Sytch’s blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was more than three times Florida’s legal limit, and authorities found an open vodka bottle in her vehicle. A court disallowed Sytch’s bond payment because the former wrestler had been arrested multiple times in 2022 already, for public intoxication and for violation of a restraining order relating to a domestic violence charge. Sytch awaited her trial on the DUI-related death in prison. In August 2023, she entered a no-contest plea and two months later was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Of the dozens of upwardly mobile and entrepreneurial-minded women who have appeared on one of Bravo’s many “Real Housewives” reality series, Jen Shah of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” is among the most memorable because her money-making endeavors landed her in prison.
In 2021, Shah and assistant Stuart Smith were indicted by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York on charges of money laundering and wire fraud. From 2012 to 2021, Shan and Smith ran telemarketing operations that sold income-generating products and services that didn’t exist in order to purposely defraud elderly consumers. After initially entering a not-guilty plea on counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, the second charge was dropped. Shah agreed to a plea deal in 2022 and admitted to the wire fraud charge. In January 2023, Shah received a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
In 2014, Elizabeth Holmes looked to be a revolutionary in both technology and medicine. The 30-year-old Stanford University dropout was hailed as one of the youngest self-made billionaires in history and compared to innovators like Steve Jobs after she founded Theranos, a company built around a cutting-edge device called The Edison Test. Holmes claimed that with just a few drops of blood, the Edison Test could accurately diagnose myriad medical conditions without the need for painful, invasive, expensive, and time-consuming tests. Investors clamored to put their money in Holmes and Theranos, which reached a $9 billion valuation.
By 2016, however, it was all exposed as too good to be true. The Edison Test didn’t actually do what it purported to do. Theranos fizzled out, and Holmes was accused of, and then charged with, fraud. A jury ruled that Holmes was well aware that her technology didn’t work when she convinced investors to fund Theranos. Facing 11 counts at the federal court level, Theranos was found guilty in January 2022 on four charges. The jury decided Holmes was guilty of defrauding patients and conspiracy to defraud patients but couldn’t decide on the counts regarding defrauding investors. In November 2022, Judge Edward Davila sentenced Holmes to 11 years and three months in prison, three years of supervised release post-parole, $400 in fines, and an order to pay restitution. In 2023, Holmes saw her sentence reduced to nine years, meaning she’ll be a free person in 2032.
After Netflix launched “Cheer” in early 2020, the biggest star of the reality show about the elite cheerleading squad at Navarro College was Jerry Harris. Raised by a single parent who died just before Harris went to college, he exuded a can-do spirit and charisma that won him and “Cheer” high-profile and vocal fans like Reese Witherspoon and Ellen DeGeneres. For most of 2020, Harris was one of the most-liked reality TV stars in the U.S., and easily the most famous cheerleader in the world.
Then in September 2020, teenage twins filed suit, alleging that Harris texted them messages of a sexual nature, demanded they send explicit photographs of themselves, and also attempted to make one of the pair perform a sexual act on him during a 2019 cheerleading event. Harris faced arrest over the situation, and after he confessed to soliciting photos from more than 10 underage individuals on Snapchat and engaging in sexual activities with a teenager, among other crimes against minors, the FBI investigated Harris further. In December 2020, the federal agency charged Harris with sexual exploitation of children and criminal reception of child pornography. He’d enter a guilty plea in February 2022 on two charges — the assault at the cheerleading competition and offering payment to a 17-year-old in exchange for sexual materials. In July 2022, a convicted Harris began serving a 12-year sentence in federal prison.
Goth-tinged alternative metal band Lostprophets came out of Wales in the early 2000s and scored some major rock radio hits in the U.K. and beyond. “Last Train Home” topped Billboard’s alternative rock chart in the U.S., and follow-ups “Wake Up (Make a Move)” and “I Don’t Know” became just as inescapable. Lostprophets was essentially the mouthpiece for founder, songwriter, and lead singer Ian Watkins.
In 2013, Watkins was sent to prison after he was convicted on 13 charges that the presiding Crown Court judge said “plunged into new depths of depravity,” according to the BBC. All 13 crimes were sexual offenses committed against children. Among Watkins’ convictions: three counts of sexual assault, seven counts relating to the possession or creation of pornography, and conspiracy to rape a child, specifically an infant. Watkins’ defense attorney unsuccessfully argued that their client shouldn’t be held accountable because his prodigious drug use left him with no memory of committing the acts in question. Two women who provided Watkins access to the children he abused were tried too and were sentenced to 14 years and 17 years. Watkins, who the judge felt possessed a “complete lack of remorse” and was a danger to the community at large, received a 35-year sentence.
Skateboarding emerged as a viable professional spectator sport out of California in the 1980s. Mark “Gator” Rogowski was part of that scene, and thus highly important to the history of skateboarding. By the time he was 14, he was winning statewide skateboarding contests and would eventually earn upwards of $100,000 in annual winnings and endorsements. One of the first signature, celebrity-branded boards was the Gator, created by gear maker Vision.
By the early 1990s, Rogowski was consuming a lot of drugs and alcohol, which presaged his descent into criminal violence and murder. In 1991, after Rogowski split with his partner, he encountered an old friend of his ex-girlfriend named Jessica Bergsten. They spent a day together, and at the end of it, Rogowski used the anti-car theft device called The Club to brutally beat Bergsten. Thereafter, he sexually assaulted her, placed her into a surfboard bag, and strangled her until she was dead. He buried the body in the California desert. For those crimes, Rogowski received a sentence of 31 years to life. Eligible for parole in 2011, he remained behind bars when the San Diego County district attorney denied his petition. Successful parole approvals in 2019 and 2022 were ultimately reversed by California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Austin Jones was among the first wave of celebrities who used YouTube to make themselves famous and get a mainstream entertainment career going. In 2007 and while still a teenager, Jones made videos of himself singing well-known songs, both unadorned or with some acoustic guitar accompaniment. Branding himself an “emo-acapella” singer, Jones rolled out original material, released multiple albums, and toured, all while maintaining his status as a YouTube sensation, attracting more than half a million subscribers who watched his videos many millions of times.
As Jones was a youthful-looking teen idol type, many of the fans he attracted were female, teenaged and younger. Jones used his platform and fame to exploit them. In 2017, the singer was arrested after he reportedly used Facebook to encourage his followers, some as young as 14, to send him sexually explicit and nude images and videos. Jones agreed to a plea bargain, and in 2019, a Chicago judge sentenced the YouTube personality to 10 years in prison.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Roy Estrada contributed bass guitar to two of the most important and definitive bands of the era. From 1964 to 1975, Estrada played off and on with the Mothers of Invention, the support musicians for experimental rock legend Frank Zappa. When he wasn’t actively recording or touring with the Mothers, Estrada was busy with Little Feat, the swamp rock group he co-founded and with whom he recorded multiple well-regarded albums.
With his era of relevance long since passed, Estrada made headlines in the 2000s for his criminal behavior. After his release from a California prison for committing a lewd act with a minor, Estrada moved to Texas and repeatedly abused a female relation under the age of 14. The relatives responsible for the child’s welfare didn’t know that Estrada was a convicted sex offender. For the newer series of crimes, Estrada reached a plea deal with prosecutors and in 2012 was sentenced by a court in Tarrant County, Texas, to serve 25 years in prison, with no possibility for parole.
When mixed martial arts exploded in popularity in the 2000s, War Machine, formerly Jon Koppenhaver, stood among the sport’s most prominent fighters and biggest successes. In a career that spanned from 2004 to 2013, he amassed a record of five defeats against 14 victories, of which eight were knockouts or technical knockouts. War Machine participated in many major mixed martial arts circuits, including Xtreme Fighting Championships, Bellator MMA, and UFC. He was also a cast member of the UFC-branded reality TV series “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Less than a year after his last fight, War Machine found himself at the center of an extremely ugly and violent incident. In 2014, he went to the Las Vegas home of his former romantic partner and kidnapped, assaulted, and sexually assaulted the woman. He also brutally attacked a friend of the victim present in the home at the time. War Machine was charged with 31 counts overall, and a Nevada jury found him guilty of everything but two counts of attempted murder. Sentenced to life in prison, War Machine will be up for parole in 2053.
Kris Wu parlayed his success in K-pop into opportunities in the English-speaking entertainment world. Once a rapper and a singer in the South Korean-based boy band EXO, the Canada-born Wu (whose real name is Wu Yifan) focused on a solo career and acting in films since the mid-2010s. He co-starred in the Chinese blockbusters “The Mermaid” and “Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back,” as well as in the American-made big-budget action movies “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” and “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.”
In July 2021, a woman filed a complaint with police in Beijing, China, alleging that Wu coerced her into a sexual encounter in 2020 when she was 17 years old. He reportedly had an employee bring her to his home on the auspice of an interview about an appearance in a music video, at which point he used alcohol to intoxicate the woman and then assaulted her. Wu was arrested, and after two additional women came forward with similar accusations, and celebrities and other teenage women attested to Wu’s online sexual harassment, he was jailed, tried, and convicted. In November 2022, the Chaoyang District Court found Wu guilty of rape and issued a prison sentence of 13 years.
Before he was a doomsday cult leader and a mass murderer who terrified Los Angeles in the late 1960s, Charles Manson was a musician. He recorded a single album and allowed the Beach Boys to record one of his songs. Other members of the Manson Family were musicians, too, notably Bobby Beausoleil, who played in several bands, including the Grass Roots, later known as Love, best known for the critically acclaimed “Forever Changes” LP. After leaving that act, Beausoleil bopped around through various other psychedelic bands, including Orkustra and the Magick Powerhouse of OZ.
Then Beausoleil joined the Manson operation, serving as a recruiter and a dutiful killer. On Manson’s orders, he stabbed to death music teacher Gary Hinman. For this, the first murder attributed to the Manson Family, Beausoleil was arrested, convicted, and in 1970, sentenced to death. When California eliminated capital punishment in 1972, Beausoleil’s death sentence became a life sentence. He’s been up for parole over the years but never successful in his bid for release. As recently as 2019, California governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a parole board’s recommendation to let out Beausoleil.
A reliable and prolific hitter in Major League Baseball, Mel Hall entered the league playing for the Chicago Cubs in 1981 and broke out in 1983, hitting .283 with 17 homers and 56 runs batted in. Hall finished in third place in the voting for the National League Rookie of the Year award. He’d spend a few years in Cleveland and then head to the Yankees, amassing nearly 1,200 hits and more than 600 RBIs altogether.
After leaving American baseball in 1992 to play in Japan, Hall returned to the MLB briefly in 1996 before retiring for good. He moved from pro baseball to amateur athletics, where in Fort Worth, Texas, he coached girls’ teams in softball and basketball. In 2009, Hall was convicted for crimes perpetuated against a 12-year-old member of his basketball team — three charges of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of indecency with a child. Witnesses for the prosecution included teenage athletes who’d worked with Hall and testified that he’d taken improper liberties with them, ranging from unwanted touching to explicit conversations, as well as sexual assault. Hall’s sentence: 45 years in prison, with eligibility for parole arriving 22.5 years into the term.
When Todd Roper departed the popular alternative rock band Cake in 2001, veteran drummer Pete McNeal joined the band as his replacement. He played extensively with the band as it toured while also occasionally contributing to Cake’s recorded output. He had plenty of time to work as a studio musician and sideman for other acts of the era, including mega-popular jazz-pop artist Norah Jones, singer-songwriter Brett Dennen, and Soul Coughing frontman Mike Doughty’s solo work.
In 2014, McNeal earned a long prison sentence for crimes committed on Thanksgiving in 2009. During a holiday party he attended in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles, McNeal reportedly sexually abused a 3-year-old child. Following a mistrial that ended with an indecisive jury, a new hearing concluded in 2013 with McNeal being declared guilty. His punishment: He was sent to prison for 15 years to life. Should he ever be paroled, he’ll remain on California’s sex offender registry for the remainder of his lifetime.
If you or anyone you know may be the victim of child abuse, domestic abuse, or sexual assault, contact the relevant resources below
The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
