Photo Credit: Beyoncé by Jean Beaufort (Public Domain)
The man accused of stealing hard drives containing unreleased Beyoncé music has avoided a jury trial by pleading guilty and will serve prison time.
Kelvin Evans, the 40-year-old man accused of stealing hard drives from Beyoncé’s team containing unreleased music, pleaded guilty in Fulton County Superior Court on Tuesday, thus avoiding a jury trial.
Evans pleaded guilty to entering an automobile and criminal trespass, and was sentenced to five years, with two to be served in prison and the rest on probation. He has also been ordered to stay away from the victims as well as the parking garage where the theft occurred. The guilty plea came just two days after jury selection began in anticipation of a trial.
“He is looking forward to putting this relatively large part of his life behind him and hoping for a future where he can make money legitimately and be part of society like the rest of us,” Evans’ attorney told the judge.
Before accepting the plea, prosecutors showed surveillance footage of a red car, allegedly driven by Evans, pulling up next to the rental vehicle in the parking garage. A second video showed the same red car arriving at an apartment complex, where Evans pulled out suitcases believed to belong to Beyoncé choreographer Christopher Grant and dancer Diandre Blue. According to prosecutors, the stolen MacBooks had tracking enabled that placed the items at the address seen in the second video.
Court documents revealed that Evans broke into a 2024 Jeep Wagoneer belonging to Grant on July 8 last year, while Beyoncé was in Atlanta on tour. Grant and Blue had parked their rental vehicle in the parking garage around 8:09 PM, but when they returned about an hour later, they found the rear window shattered and their luggage gone.
Among the stolen items were two MacBook laptops, Apple headphones, luxury clothing, accessories, and hard drives allegedly containing unreleased Beyoncé music. Grant also told investigators he was carrying “personal, sensitive information” belonging to the superstar.
Evans was arrested on August 26 and hd remained in Fulton County Jail since his arrest. He was indicted by a grand jury in October and initially pleaded not guilty in March of this year.
