Fashion Designer ‘Bucks’ Awaiting 15 Year Prison Stint
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Rodney “Bucks” Charlemagne (left) with his defense attorney James Kousouros (right) in Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018. Eagle photo by Christina Carrega
By Christina Carrega
A Queens fashion designer will find out next week if he will spend the next 15 years in an upstate prison for riding dirty with a gun in the car.
Rodney “Bucks” Charlemagne arrived in Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday morning with family and friends expecting to get sentenced by Justice Kenneth Holder for possessing a gun and driving with a suspended license.
In November 2015, Charlemagne was arrested for operating a white 2015 Land Rover with heavily tinted windows that was double parked and blocking traffic on Steinway Street in Astoria. When police approached Charlemagne’s car and discovered his license was void since 2010, they checked the rest of the SUV.
Police recovered a diamondback .380 caliber pistol with five rounds of ammunition in the magazine from Charlemagne’s pants, according to the criminal complaint.
Charlemagne, whose name makes up the latter half of the Slowbucks clothing line he co-founded, admitted to the police that he “found the gun three days ago” and “I had it on me you got me,” according to court documents.
After a jury trial in September, Charlemagne was convicted of gun possession and operating a motor vehicle without a license, but acquitted of a traffic infraction and a misdemeanor charge.
Charlemagne’s defense attorney James Kousouros filed a motion requesting for the judge to set aside the jury’s verdict. The motion will be reviewed and decided on Dec. 14.
An anonymous letter was sent to Justice Holder regarding Charlemagne’s case that Kousouros said he client has nothing to do with.
“The letter suggest that people in the world are concern of the disposition of this case and how it will be handled,” said the judge as he paraphrased the note.
Charlemagne, 31, who is the fiance of Kenashia Douglas — R&B singer Ashanti’s sister — faces up to 15 years in prison.
The Slowbucks brand — co-founded by Windsor “Slow” Rubin — quickly rose to prominence when hip hop artists like Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent and Wacka Flacka wore their gear. The pair signed a distribution deal with Mark Ecko in 2014.
Slowbucks’ hype dropped after Slow’s beef with fellow Queens native Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.
Rubin appeared in music videos that dissed Jackson and escalated the rift by posing in an Instagram picture with Jackson’s estranged son Marquise Jackson. In 2014, 50 upped the drama at Hot 97’s Summer Jam by allegedly having members of his camp rob Slow of his chain, according to XXL Magazine.
