DC rapper pleads guilty to drug trafficking, weapon possession after videos posted online: officials

WASHINGTON - A Washington, D.C. rapper, who officials say posted music videos of himself glorifying gun violence, pleaded guilty in connection with narcotics trafficking and possessing a ghost gun months after he was arrested at his home in the southeast.

Earl Isaac III, aka "Frontline," was on probation in 2021 when he posted videos to YouTube showing himself making threats and posing with automatic firearms, investigators said. 

They say the 20-year-old convicted felon was arrested at his home on Stanton Road in the District on June 1, 2023 while he was still serving out his one-year probation.

According to the D.C.’s U.S. Attorney's Office, police found a .40 caliber Glock ghost gun outfitted with a machinegun conversion device and loaded with a high-capacity magazine containing 21 rounds of ammunition, in the bathroom of the home. Police say they found 100 pills inscribed with "M30" throughout the house they determined contained fentanyl. Officials also say they found 2.68 kilos of marijuana and $2,020 in cash in the front left pocket of Isaac’s jeans.  Also living in the home were a four-year-old and a teenager.

Officials say Isaac told them the firearms and pills belonged to him, and say he asked for the money to be returned. He was previously convicted and sentenced to a 14-month suspended sentence for carrying a pistol without a license in 2022.

Isaac pleaded guilty on January 9 to a four-count indictment in U.S. District Court that included unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person convicted of a crime, unlawful possession with intent to deliver marijuana, unlawful possession with intent to deliver fentanyl, and possessing a firearm during a drug-related offense.

Law enforcement investigators also said that Isaac advertised and sold marijuana and fentanyl on his Instagram account.

His sentencing is scheduled for May 8, 2024.