In June, Nicki Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty is due to stand trial on federal charges of failing to register as a sex offender upon moving from New York to California in 2019. Now, the victim of his original sexual assault case says she’s being harassed by both the family and fans of Nicki Minaj as they attempt to bully her into recanting the 26-year-old charges. In a lengthy story in The Daily Beast, the victim speaks out.
The charges stem from a 1995 incident when Petty and his victim were both 16; Petty was convicted of one count of attempted rape in the first degree, assault in the second degree, unlawful imprisonment in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon. He served out his sentence — which included a 2006 charge of murder in the second degree that he pleaded down to manslaughter — receiving his release in 2013 and marrying Nicki in 2019. However, he surrendered to US Marshals in LA after a warrant was issued for failing to update his sex offender status after moving.
According to The Daily Beast’s profile the victim — referred to as Jennifer — a campaign of ongoing harassment from people claiming to be associated with the Pettys, from offers of hush money to thinly-veiled threats, prompting her to move no less than three times since Petty’s arrest last year. She says she even received a phone call from Nicki Minaj herself to discuss a non-disclosure agreement, disconnecting the phone number later after Jennifer seemed reluctant to accept the offer.
A man connected to both parties — referred to in the report as “Barry” — continued to reach out to Jennifer to recant her original statements from 1995, offering a $20,000 bribe to sign a letter recanting. The story was mirrored in a post on Facebook from Jennifer’s adult daughter Kenya, who declined to comment for the story. US Marshals eventually reached out to Jennifer after being tipped off by an online acquaintance that she was allegedly being intimidated by the Pettys.
Jennifer moved again after Kenya was approached at a club by another man claiming to be an acquaintance of her mother and Petty’s, making her feel threatened and convincing Jennifer that her daughter was unsafe with her. Others connected with Petty are noted as also making threats on social media, mostly via gossip accounts, which have also been inundated with angry comments from Nicki Minaj fans.
You can read the full story here.