COLOMBIA – A South Carolina judge granted Frank Wilberding, 23, an indulgence after the ex-rapper pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of setting fire in 2019 to two of Governor Henry McMaster’s rented properties at Columbia.
Judge George McFaddin Jr.’s sentence requires Wilberding to complete a rehabilitation program, but not serve another day in prison. Wilberding was arrested at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center for more than 600 days pending the charges. McFaddin also ordered him to serve five years of probation. He will be released Thursday.
McFaddin’s sentence, delivered at a virtual hearing in Richland County on Wednesday night, avoided a long prison sentence for the young man who performed rap songs about drugs under the name “Dank Frank” but whose various charges of aggression, drug possession and arson resulting from the May 2019 incident reached 175 years behind bars.
McFaddin refused to arrest Wilberding after his lawyer, Columbia lawyer Lori Murray, and his family testified that the young man was sober from drug use and had not caused any problems with the law. Murray said during a bail hearing in 2019 that Wilberding was using unspecified drugs when authorities said the houses were set on fire.
“We are playing at your mercy, judge,” Murray said on Wednesday. Wilberding apologized to tenants who lost property or were displaced by fire, after three of them told the judge they had forgiven him.
“What I did was wrong and I know that,” said Wilberding to McFaddin. “I just want to have one more chance in life again to prove that I can be a good citizen.”
Authorities said Wilberding went to the two houses on Greene Street, near the University of South Carolina campus, to resolve a dispute he had with a person who lived there. Wilberding denied knowing that the governor owned the properties.
McMasters own 20 homes around Columbia, many near the USC campus, which they rent as their main source of income. The couple earns about $ 300,000 a year from rent, according to their tax returns. Through a spokesman, McMaster declined to comment on Wednesday.
The 2019 fires did not cause injuries, but McFaddin, during the sentence, acknowledged the seriousness of the incident, noting that it could have been much worse.
“Don’t make me reconsider my sentence,” said the judge to Wilberding.
Wilberding has lived in Columbia since 2019, after a brief stint in Los Angeles to pursue a hip-hop career. “Dank Frank” posted 27 songs online with titles including – “I Be Sellin Weed”, “White Champagne”, “Return to 843”, “Codeine & Cocaine” and “Yahtzee”.
“I don’t think it came out the way he wanted it to,” Ed Wilberding, his father, told Post and Courier in 2019.
Follow Joseph Cranney on Twitter @joey_cranney.