Up-and-coming Chicago rapper Bump J faces a minimum of seven years in a federal prison after admitting his guilt in a 2007 local bank robbery earlier today (August 26).
In November 2008, the former Atlantic Records artist was arrested during a routine traffic stop in Carbondale, Illinois, about two hours east of St. Louis, Missouri.
He was charged as one of two gunmen suspected of robbing a Chicago Chase Bank on January 4, 2007.
The robbery, during which no one was injured, was captured on a surveillance camera.
Earlier today (August 26) Bump J, born Terrance Boykin, accepted a plea agreement thus avoiding the mandatory life sentence he would have received if found guilty of menacing bank employees with a .45 caliber handgun.
The plea agreement not withstanding, Bump J would have also faced 37 – 46 months in prison for the robbery itself.
In exchange for admitting his involvement in the robbery and admitting to threatening the employees of the Chase Bank at 800 Madison Street in Chicago, Bump J now faces a mandatory minimum seven years for the brandishing a gun during a crime of violence.
On Tuesday (September 1), Judge Charles R. Norgle will hand down a sentence in the case. Throughout this ordeal, Bump J has remained relatively quiet.
He maintained a blog at BumpJ.Blogspot.com up until just days prior to his arrest, through which he posted new music and commentary on the Chicago Hip-Hop scene.
Bump J’s last entry on the blog was a congratulatory video recorded on Election Day, November 4, 2008.
The rapper was arrested the following week.