If convicted, they could face up to 25 years in state prison. Sprouse, Christian and Egardo Cortez, and Fuhse have all been charged with robbery and criminal impersonation. Laperuta, a resident of Central Valley, New York, has been charged with robbery in the first and second degrees criminal impersonation in the first degree and falsely reporting an incident in the third degree. When an NYPD lieutenant cast doubt on the plausibility of Laperuta’s claims, Laperuta is alleged to have withdrawn his complaint and left the precinct. He once again is alleged to have claimed that the fan threatened the bodyguards with a gun. Laperuta is then alleged to have gone to the NYPD’s 28th Precinct to file a formal complaint against the fan. Laperuta is then alleged to have told the officers that the fan had threatened him and other members of Tekashi 6ix9ine’s security detail with a gun.Īccording to Vance’s office, the bodyguards ‘boxed in’ the fan’s car at the corner of 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard, forcing him to pull the car over.Īnother bodyguard, Sammy Sprouse, is alleged to have approached the fan’s car, opened the driver’s side, door, unbuckled the seat belt, and pulled his arm, knocking the phone out of his hand. The fan who was chased then saw a marked police car and motioned for the officer to help, but Laperuta, who is retired from the NYPD, allegedly flashed an official department Member of Service card. The SUVs were equipped with emergency flashing lights and sirens normally seen on police vehicles and ambulances. The bodyguards who were in three different SUVs pursued the man for some 20 blocks.
When the bodyguards saw the man trying to record video of the rap star, they ‘shouted at him and began to chase him as he drove away,’ according to the Manhattan DA’s Office. The rapper, who in 2019 was sentenced to two years in prison for taking part in a drive-by shooting as a member of a gang, was surrounded by a phalanx of bodyguards. Published: 20:38 GMT, 19 July 2021 | Updated: 09:53 GMT, 20 July 2021Ĭhristian Cortez (left) and Egardo Cortez are residents of Bridgeport, Connecticut, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office