- Federal prosecutors are asking for Nicki Minaj's husband to serve a year-and-a-half in prison
- Petty served four years in jail in 1995, pleading guilty to the attempted rape of a 16-year-old
- In a recent filing, they said he knowingly failed to register as a sex offender when he moved to California.
Federal prosecutors are moving to sentence Nicki Minaj's husband Kenneth Petty to over a year in jail for failing to register as a sex offender, according to court documents.
"Having previously been convicted of attempted rape, defendant knowingly failed to register as a sex offender upon moving to California," prosecutors said in a recent filing. Petty, now 44, served four years in jail in 1995 after pleading guilty to the attempted rape of Jennifer Hough, who was then 16 years old.
In August, Hough also sued Minaj and Petty in New York for intentional infliction of emotional distress and sexual assault, alleging that the couple attempted to pay her $500,000 to recant the allegations, and intimidated her on various occasions – claiming that the couple was trying to coerce her to help them get Petty off of the registry.
That case has now moved to California where the couple lives. Minaj was also dropped as a defendant in January. Still, prosecutors are pursuing action against Petty, saying that when he moved to California in 2019 while dating Minaj, he failed to register as a sex offender.
Petty's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hough's attorneys and Minaj's attorneys did not immediately get back to Insider either.
"The timing of defendant's lapse in registration is concerning, given that it occurred when defendant began dating his wife, quit his job, moved to Los Angeles, and adopted an affluent lifestyle," prosecutors wrote in the filing.
Prosecutors added that prior to his relationship and move he had been compliant with the registration processes. Petty and Minaj married in 2019, and had a child the following year.
"Defendant has been completing sex offender registration documents for nearly 20 years," prosecutors wrote in the filing. "Over the course of two decades, he was repeatedly warned that if he moved to another state, it was his responsibility to follow any local, city, state, federal, or international laws regarding registration."
Prosecutors said that Petty should face 15 months behind bars and pay a $55,000 fine. Petty is due to appear at a sentencing hearing on July 6.
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or visit its website to receive confidential support.