The arrest that helped spark the #MeToo movement, a plot to kill for a beach house, and a conviction based on song lyrics. These celebrities are proof that just because you live a lavish life, it doesn't mean you're above the law.
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00:00The arrest that helped spark the Me Too movement, a plot to kill for a beach house, and a conviction
00:06based on song lyrics.
00:08These celebrities are proof that just because you live a lavish life, it doesn't mean you're
00:12above the law.
00:14Danny Masterson was most well-known for a single credit, but it was a doozy.
00:19Between 1998 and 2006, he portrayed Stephen Hyde as part of the ensemble cast of the beloved
00:25sitcom That 70s Show.
00:27It was pretty much smack in the middle of that series' run, though, that he committed
00:31the crimes that would later land him in prison for the rest of his life, the drugging and
00:35sexual assault of two different women at his home between 2001 and 2003.
00:41Multiple women came forward about Masterson's crimes in 2017, initiating an investigation
00:47that quickly caused the actor to be dropped from the Netflix dramedy The Ranch.
00:52While some of the cases were dropped, two of them decidedly stuck, and the victims'
00:56harrowing testimony at his eight-month-long trial resulted in Masterson being convicted
01:01on two counts of rape in May 2023.
01:04"...what this has done to their lives and how this has disrupted them and stolen their
01:09joy, we're very emotional."
01:12Just over three months later, the actor was slapped with a sentence of 30 years to life,
01:17which he began serving at North Kern State Prison in Delano, California, on December
01:2227, 2023.
01:25Harvey Weinstein was one of the most prolific and successful film producers in history,
01:30producing classics such as Pulp Fiction, Scream, and Gangs of New York.
01:34Operating from a position of immense power in Hollywood, he seemed to think he could
01:38just smooth it all over when, in October 2017, allegations of inappropriate behavior began
01:45to surface.
01:46In a statement, he related that he knew he had, quote, "'caused a lot of pain' and expressed
01:51his remorse, but it was not enough."
01:53At this time, the MeToo movement was starting to snowball, and perhaps emboldened by that
01:58circumstance, a slew of additional women began to come forward.
02:02Among them were such high-profile actresses as Selma Hayek, Rose McGowan, and Ashley Judd.
02:08"...I fought with this volley of no's, which he ignored.
02:11Who knows, maybe he heard them as maybe, maybe he heard them as yeses, maybe they turned
02:15him on."
02:16Within a couple months, Weinstein had been banned for life from the Producers Guild of
02:20America and fired from the board of the company bearing his name.
02:25Weinstein was eventually indicted in New York and convicted in 2020 of third-degree rape,
02:30receiving a 23-year sentence.
02:32In 2022, he was convicted of similar crimes in California and slept with an additional
02:3616 years.
02:38The New York sentence was overturned in 2024, but as of this video, the 72-year-old is expected
02:44to be in custody for the remainder of his life.
02:48Canadian actor Ryan Grantham had been in the business from a young age, making appearances
02:52in projects like the 2010 film Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
02:56In his teens, he began to land some pretty high-profile roles, earning guest spots on
03:01the hit series Supernatural and Riverdale.
03:03He seemed poised for even greater success, until the day he threw away his career in
03:08shocking fashion.
03:09In March 2020, Grantham, who had been silently dealing with profound mental health issues,
03:15punched his mother from behind as she sat playing piano in their Vancouver-area home
03:20and shot her in the back of the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
03:24Two days later, he packed up his car with guns, ammunition, and Molotov cocktails and
03:29headed off to carry out deadly plans against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
03:34But before he got too far, his conscience apparently got the better of him.
03:38Grantham ultimately decided to drive to a Vancouver police station, where he allegedly
03:43confessed to an officer, quote,
03:45"...I killed my mother."
03:47Two years later, he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 14 years of parole
03:52ineligibility for the crime.
03:54On the final day of Grantham's trial, he addressed the court, saying,
03:58"...I cannot explain or justify my actions.
04:01I have no excuse.
04:03It hurts me to think about how badly I've wasted my life."
04:06Michael Jace was best known for playing cops and authority figures, which included his
04:11most prominent role as Officer Julian Lowe on The Shield.
04:14Within just a few years after that series ended, though, the steady acting work had
04:18largely dried up for Jace.
04:20He declared bankruptcy in 2011, and by 2014, he had defaulted on the mortgage payment for
04:26the home he shared with his wife and their two young sons.
04:29It was in that home, in April 2014, that the unthinkable occurred.
04:34Jace's wife, April, was talking divorce.
04:37Unwillingly convinced she was seeing another man, Jace shot her in the back as she arrived
04:41at the home in front of their boys.
04:43As she lay on the floor, he shot her twice more, then called 911 to report what he had
04:49done.
04:50April Jace died of her injuries, and at trial in 2016, Michael Jace's fate was largely sealed
04:55by the heartbreaking testimony of his older son.
04:58"...who recounted hearing his father tell his mother, if you like running, run to heaven,
05:03before shooting her in the leg."
05:06In June of that year, Michael Jace was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced
05:10to 40 years in prison, making it highly unlikely that the 62-year-old will ever walk free again.
05:17When Percy Master P. Miller began to find success with his No Limit Records label, he
05:22was determined to get his brothers as far away from the violence of the New Orleans
05:26Projects as he could.
05:28Master P. made his brothers Corey, nicknamed C-Murder, and Vyshan, nicknamed Silk the Shocker,
05:34centerpiece performers of his fledgling stable of artists.
05:37But despite gold-selling success and an increasingly high profile, Corey Miller simply could not
05:42stay away from trouble.
05:43A 2001 incident in which Miller discharged a gun outside a nightclub landed him in legal
05:49hot water, but that was just the beginning.
05:51In January 2002, Miller found himself in another altercation at a New Orleans club.
05:57During the scuffle, he fired a shot, striking 16-year-old Steve Thomas in the chest.
06:02Thomas dined at the scene, and Miller was tried twice.
06:05A 2003 trial resulted in a mandatory life sentence, but the conviction was overturned
06:11due to the failure of the prosecution to disclose the criminal pasts of several witnesses.
06:16Miller was retried in 2009, and he was again sentenced to life.
06:20In recent years, celebrities such as Kim Kardashian have publicly lobbied for authorities to take
06:25a new look at his case, but in 2023, a federal judge upheld Miller's conviction.
06:31For five seasons beginning in 2011, Discovery Channel's Sons of Guns was must-see TV for
06:37firearm fans.
06:38The series put the spotlight on Will Hayden, the owner of Red Jacket Firearms.
06:43In 2014, though, the series was unceremoniously canceled when Hayden was arrested for a horrifying
06:48crime — the repeated rapes of two pre-teen girls, nearly two decades apart.
06:55Hayden was tried and convicted in 2017, receiving life in prison plus 40 years, with the judge
07:00also stipulating that there would be no opportunity for parole or any other form of early release.
07:06Just two months later, Hayden pleaded no contest to similar charges in a different parish.
07:12One charge involved one of his victims in the earlier case, and the other involved his
07:16own daughter, who publicly claimed that her father had attempted to assault her in her
07:21bedroom roughly 20 years prior.
07:23An additional life sentence was imposed in that case, and in 2019, Hayden's appeal in
07:28the first case was denied.
07:30NFL fans might recognize Eric Naposki from his stints with the New England Patriots and
07:35Indianapolis Colts in the late 80s.
07:37The former linebacker was working security at a nightclub when he met Nanette Packard,
07:42a young mother of three with whom he began a relationship.
07:45There was just one problem — Packard was engaged to and living with wealthy entrepreneur
07:50William McLaughlin.
07:51Packard had previously been convicted of writing bad checks in McLaughlin's name, and after
07:56becoming involved with Naposki, authorities say she hatched another plot to kill her fiancé,
08:02collect insurance money, and live rent-free in his lavish beach house, as stipulated in
08:06his will.
08:07In December 1994, Naposki used a key left for him by Packard to enter the beach house
08:13and shoot McLaughlin to death in his kitchen.
08:16The crime remained unsolved for 15 years, but in 2009, Naposki and Packard were arrested
08:22after Colt case investigators were able to build a case against them.
08:26Both were slapped with life sentences with no chance of parole.
08:30Ronald Roddick Herron's burgeoning rap career appears to have been little more than a front
08:35for his position at the top of the murderous Mad Dogs Blood Gang, which supplied hard drugs
08:41to several Brooklyn neighborhoods.
08:43Herron was convicted in 2014 of personally killing three people connected to the drug
08:47trade, and the case was somewhat controversial due to the fact that some of the lyrics in
08:52his own songs were used as evidence against him.
08:55Many of the lyrics pretty much amounted to blow-by-blow accounts of his crimes.
08:59At his sentencing, Herron accused the judge and prosecutors of manufacturing a case against
09:04him, while the judge fired back that Herron's obvious intelligence was part of the reason
09:09for his harsh sentence.
09:11Herron appealed the ruling, claiming that the use of his lyrics as evidence constituted
09:15a violation of his rights, but the appeals court wasn't buying it.
09:18The court ruled that any First Amendment considerations were decisively outweighed by the fact that
09:23the lyrics in question were, well, pretty damning.
09:27The own reality show Welcome to Sweetie Pies indeed struck a sweet spot with viewers, running
09:33for nine seasons between 2011 and 2018.
09:36It focused on Robbie Montgomery, a former backup singer for Ike and Tina Turner who
09:41pivoted to becoming a soul food restaurateur after her music career ended.
09:45A couple of years before the series ended, Montgomery's 21-year-old grandson, Andre Montgomery
09:51Jr., was tragically killed in a shooting in St. Louis.
09:55The real tragedy, though, was yet to be known.
09:58In 2020, Tim Norman, Montgomery's son and member of the Sweetie Pies cast, was arrested
10:04and charged with murder-for-hire and the death of Andre Montgomery.
10:08The reason for the crime was simple.
10:10Norman had taken out a life insurance policy on Montgomery, and he stood to gain nearly
10:14half a million dollars in the event of his death.
10:17At trial in 2023, the evidence of cell phone activity and the testimony of Norman's accomplices
10:23was more than enough to convict him.
10:25He was slapped with a life sentence.
10:28Harrison Norris Jr. is best known to fans of WCW wrestling as Hardbody Harrison, who
10:33in the 90s appeared in a number of matches.
10:36After Norris' wrestling career ended, he went on to win the FX competition series Tough
10:41Man in 2000.
10:43But behind the scenes?
10:44He was known to the women he preyed upon as a walking nightmare.
10:48Norris was arrested and faced several shocking allegations, that he lured women to live with
10:53him, his wife, and one of his children as trainees who could potentially one day land
10:57lucrative pro-wrestling contracts.
11:00Instead, he held them as virtual captives, creating never-ending debt to him for failure
11:05to properly perform chores or tasks, and collecting on that debt by forcing them into prostitution.
11:11He kept them in line with threats of violence, and the fact that he transported them across
11:15state lines on occasion was enough for him to be prosecuted under a federal anti-human
11:20trafficking law that had been passed seven years earlier.
11:23In November 2007, Norris was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
11:29Tackle Keith Wright was signed by the Houston Texans out of college in 2003, and he bounced
11:33around to several teams before retiring in 2006.
11:37In 2011, he was arrested in Sacramento, California on suspicion of taking part in a string of
11:42home invasion robberies in the area.
11:45Prosecutors alleged that Wright did more than mastermind the robberies, where victims were
11:50threatened with a gun to get them to give up money and property.
11:53During one of the robberies, he kidnapped and sexually assaulted one of his female victims
11:58before making her drive him around town, withdrawing money from two banks.
12:02Unfortunately for Wright, he left behind DNA evidence for the authorities, and his
12:06DNA profile was logged in a database thanks to a previous arrest.
12:11In November 2012, Wright was convicted of a whopping 19 different charges, landing him
12:16a sentence specifically engineered to make sure that he never walks free again, 114 years
12:22to life, plus an additional 120 years and eight months.
12:26If you or anyone you know may be the victim of sexual assault, please contact the Rape,
12:31Abuse, and Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE,
12:391-800-656-4673.