California man found guilty of sending teen son to rob, kill rapper PnB Rock in Los Angeles
A man was convicted this week of sending his teen son to rob and kill rapper PnB Rock as he was eating in a Los Angeles restaurant.
A California jury has convicted a man who sent his teenage son to rob Philadelphia rapper PnB Rock, who was shot and killed during the confrontation at a Los Angeles restaurant.
It took a Los Angeles County jury less than three hours to find Freddie Trone guilty of one count each of murder and conspiracy to commit robbery, along with two counts of second-degree robbery involving the 30-year-old rapper and his girlfriend, FOX 11 reported.
A co-defendant, Tremont Jones, 46, was also found guilty of two counts of second-degree robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery. He was not charged with murder.
"Today, justice has been served for Mr. Allen and his family who have endured unimaginable pain losing a loved one to such senseless violence," Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said.
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Both men are scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 27.
The case against Trone's 17-year-old son is being handled in juvenile court. Authorities are trying to determine whether he is competent to stand trial. Shauntel Trone, Trone’s wife and the teen’s stepmom, has pleaded no contest to accessory after the fact. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 16.
PnB Rock was eating at Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles with his girlfriend in South L.A. on Sept. 13, 2022, when a suspect approached them and robbed them at gunpoint.
Prosecutors said the motive for the crime was to steal about half a million dollars worth of jewelry. Jones allegedly fist-bumped the rapper at the restaurant and then passed information to Trone about what jewelry the entertainer was wearing, the TV news outlet reported.
The rapper, whose legal name was Rakim Allen, was shot in the back and chest several times during the robbery, and the suspect fled in a getaway car, police said. Allen's girlfriend, Stephanie Sibounheuang, is also the mother of their two children.
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Trone was identified as the driver of the getaway vehicle. The teen shooter was out on parole or probation at the time of the shooting. He was also wearing an ankle monitor that was apparently not being tracked, authorities previously confirmed to FOX 11.
During the trial, Trone said "I wasn't there. I didn't tell nobody to do nothing." He testified that his son and his own vehicle went missing, and that he found his son in the vehicle with three other "youngsters."
Defense attorney Winston McKesson said the teen shooter had acted independently of his father.
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"You have no evidence that my client planned anything," he told jurors, adding that the prosecution's goal was to get them to "dislike" Trone.
Fox News Digital's Brie Stimson contributed to this report.