When reality TV fans were reintroduced to Rashidah Ali a couple of seasons ago on “Love & Hip Hop,” it was made clear that the 5-foot-7-inch entrepreneur had her share of legal woes. And while fans were able to watch as she walked away from one legal squabble unscathed, it turns out that she’s still dealing with another, which is said to be related to credit card fraud.
According to Cliffview Pilot, Ali received a verbal warning from Hackensack Superior Court Judge Liliana DeAvila-Silebi that the next time she screws up, she’ll be heading to the slammer. It turns out that the 30-year-old reality star found herself at the wrong end of the law back in 2011 when she allegedly took the credit card of an acquaintance and went on a shopping spree without permission. Prosecutors say she made charges at Shoe Inn, Homewood Suites and Ambience Hotel.
After being brought up on charges, Ali was admitted into a Pre-Trial Intervention program, which provided her with the opportunity to clear her name of the charges if she met the requirements of the program. Unfortunately, she did not and was later dropped from the program and convicted on seven counts of fraudulent credit card fraud use and theft by deception. The terms of her plea agreement included reporting to a probation officer and paying restitution, which leads us to last month’s hearing. It turns out that the Encore Shoetique owner missed quite a few bi-weekly appointments with her probation officer and had been failing to keep up with her restitution payments.
To save her from being hauled off to prison, Ali’s defense attorney Ron Bar-Nadav promised that the reality star will faithfully keep up with her scheduled probation appointments and pay a minimum of $100 towards her restitution per appointment. Though Judge DeAvila-Silebi did agree not to send the “Love & Hip Hop” star to prison, she also warned that next time Ali wouldn’t be so lucky.
Hopefully Rashidah has decided play nice with the courts and comply with the requirements of her plea deal. We’d really hate to hear about her being hauled off to prison.
