Nicki Minaj's Husband Kenneth Petty Pleads Guilty to Failure to Register as Sex Offender in California

Kenneth Petty faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release

By Gabrielle Chung
Published on September 10, 2021 12:19AM EDT

Nicki Minaj's husband Kenneth "Zoo" Petty has entered a plea deal for failing to register as a sex offender in the state of California, PEOPLE can confirm.

Court records obtained by PEOPLE show that the 43-year-old pleaded guilty on Thursday during a virtual hearing with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, which oversees both central and southern parts of the state.

He now faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release.

Petty's sentencing has been scheduled for Jan. 24, 2022.

An attorney for Petty and a representative for Minaj did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.

Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Petty was arrested in March 2020 after being indicted for failure to register as a sex offender. At the time, Petty pleaded not guilty and posted $100,000 bail, according to records accessed by PEOPLE.

He initially faced legal trouble after being pulled over by the Beverly Hills Police Department on Nov. 15, 2019, when the department determined he was registered as a sex offender in New York — but not in California, where he now resides, TMZ reported.

Kenneth Petty
Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images

Petty is required to register as a sex offender, as he was convicted for the first-degree attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl in 1995. He was sentenced to 18 to 54 months, but spent four years in prison. Petty is a level two registered offender in New York, which means he's considered a "moderate risk of repeat offense."

Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty
Kenneth Petty and Nicki Minaj. Johnny Nunez/Getty Images
Nicki Minaj and Husband Kenneth Petty Sued by His Alleged Rape Victim for Harassment, Intimidation

Last month, Petty's alleged rape victim, Jennifer Hough, filed a lawsuit against him and Minaj, 38, in which she accused the pair of attempting to intimidate her into recanting her rape accusation.

The lawsuit also accused Petty and Minaj, who married in October 2019, of intentional infliction of emotional distress and alleged that the couple had offered Hough up to $500,000 to recant her claims.

"If I lie now and say that I lied then, you know what that does?" Hough told The New York Times in August. "Do you know what that's going to say to my two little girls, or even my sons?"

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 connected to a certified crisis counselor.