Charges dropped against rapper Yungeen Ace for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Online Duval County court records show that charges against a popular rapper from Jacksonville have been dropped.

Yungeen Ace, whose real name is Keyanta Bullard, was arrested in April on a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

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The prosecution dropped the charges against Bullard on July 3, but he’s been out of custody since April.

According to a disposition statement, “E-Traces were completed for the firearms but provided no evidence to associate the firearms with Bullard. Bullard’s phone was recovered, but after review, a search warrant was not sought. ... Bullard’s DNA was taken pursuant to a search warrant and was compared against the firearms, but FDLE reported that the firearms failed to demonstrate a sufficient amount of DNA for processing.”

Read: Rapper Yungeen Ace arrested for possession of firearm by convicted felon in Jacksonville Beach

There were 4 other people in the car with Bullard and the driver when Jacksonville Beach police stopped the car for running a stop sign. The driver of the car later claimed in a YouTube video that the firearms found belonged to other people in the car, the disposition statement said.

“Mere proximity to a firearm does not establish that the person intentionally exercised control over it in the absence of additional evidence,” the disposition statement said.

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Action News Jax told you in June 2018 that Bullard was the lone survivor in a drive-by shooting on Town Center Parkway that killed 3 young men.

After he was released from the hospital from his injuries in that shooting, he was arrested by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for violation of probation.

Officials said at that time that he violated his probation for possessing a firearm. In 2017, he was given 31 months of probation on an accessory charge out of Clay County.

Read: Jacksonville rapper Julio Foolio fatally shot in Tampa while celebrating birthday, attorney confirms

In October 2018, Bullard was arrested again for violation of probation. The warrant from that arrest stated he did not stay with his itinerary while traveling back from a trip to Louisiana and also visited the Orange Park Mall without consent from his probation officer.

In March 2019, Bullard’s attorney said he was ambushed, which led to a shooting at the Hampton Inn in Waycross. One man was killed and another was injured. Bullard was in the area performing a concert.

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JSO is currently looking into whether Bullard was involved in the death of rival Jacksonville rapper Julio Foolio, who was shot and killed at a hotel in Tampa while celebrating his 26th birthday. Bullard released a diss track about Foolio’s death hours after the actual murder.

Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters said the agency is aware of the video and is investigating, but Bullard has yet to be officially named a suspect or person of interest in Foolio’s murder.

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