Kingston, 34, and his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner,
have been charged with conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft,
identity theft and related crimes, according to arrest warrants released by the
Broward County Sheriff's Office.
The two were arrested Thursday after a SWAT team raided
Kingston's rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Turner was arrested in
the raid, while Kingston was arrested at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in
California's Mojave Desert where he was performing.
Kingston, who had a No. 1 hit with “Beautiful Girls” in 2007
and performed with Justin Bieber on the song “Eenie Meenie,” is being held at a
California jail awaiting his return to Florida.
Robert Rosenblatt, the attorney for the Jamaican-American
performer and his mother, said on Friday that Kingston would return voluntarily
if allowed, “which would save the state the expense of extradition and the
costs of travel for the detectives and Sean.”
His mother was being held Friday at the Broward County jail
on $160,000 bond.
Kingston, who had a No. 1 hit with “Beautiful Girls” in 2007
and performed with Justin Bieber on the song “Eenie Meenie," is being held
at a California jail awaiting his return to Florida.
Robert Rosenblatt, the attorney for the Jamaican-American
performer and his mother, said on Friday that Kingston would return voluntarily
if allowed, “which would save the state the expense of extradition and the
costs of travel for the detectives and Sean.”
His mother was being held Friday at the Broward County jail
on $160,000 bond.
“We look forward to addressing these (charges) in court and
are confident of a successful resolution for Shawn and his mother,” Rosenblatt
said.
Specific details of Kingston's and Turner's alleged crimes
are not included in the warrants, but the documents say that from October to
March they stole almost $500,000 in jewelry, more than $200,000 from Bank of
America, $160,000 from the Escalade dealer, more than $100,000 from First
Republic Bank, $86,000 from the maker of customized beds and other smaller
amounts.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, was already
on two years’ probation for trafficking stolen property. Further information on
that conviction could not be found.
According to federal court records, his mother pleaded
guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing over $160,000 and served nearly 1.5
years in prison.
The two have also been sued.
In 2015, a seller of customized watches successfully sued
Kingston and his mother in a New York City federal court for $356,000 after
they failed to pay.
In 2018, a New York jeweler successfully sued the two for
$301,000 after they scammed the store out of nine items.
More recently, a Florida entertainment systems company sued
Kingston in February, saying he failed to pay $120,000 of a $150,000 bill for a
232-inch (5.8 meter) television it installed in his home. The TV is
approximately 17 feet by 9.5 feet (5 meters by 3 meters) and covers a wall.
He allegedly told the owners that if they gave him a low
down payment and credit, he and Bieber would make commercials for them. That
never happened, and Kingston never paid, the lawsuit says.
The company's attorney says Bieber had no involvement — Kingston was falsely using his name. AP