Investigation into Afroman’s alleged missing money concludes

ADAMS COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - An independent investigation has wrapped up after money logged into evidence appeared to come up short in a high-profile case involving hip-hop artist Afroman.

This is the first time video from Aug. 21, 2022, when the Adams County Sheriff’s Office raided the home of Joseph Foreman, aka Afroman, on suspicions of kidnapping and drug trafficking.

A search warrant at the time alleged probable cause of kidnapping and drug trafficking, which is why the sheriff’s office legally took $5,031 in cash into evidence.

Two Adams County deputies were responsible for counting, bagging and tagging the cash for evidence.

Months later in November, no formal charges were ever brought against the rapper, and his cash was returned, but not all of it.

After multiple times counting the bills, which the sheriff’s office recorded along with FOX19 NOW, the total consistently came up $400 short.

The bags containing the cash were both sealed before the counting process.

FOX19 NOW called Adams County Sherriff Kimmy Rogers, who had the Clermont County Sherriff’s Office look into this matter in an independent audit.

It found that during the raid, deputies miscounted.

“I’m not mad at these dudes,” Afroman explained. “I don’t want anything to happen to them, but they need to pay me.”

Afroman says he thinks his money was stolen by deputies.

“You’re not going to get hired by the sheriff’s station, and you don’t know how to count,” he states. “When something is a miscount, it normally lands on an odd count. $400 even isn’t just going to come up coincidentally.”

One video shows when the independent investigation says the deputy miscounted a total of $390. The report says while the deputy recorded collecting $4,390, he actually only had $4,000.

As far as money missing from the second bag, which would be $10, that too can’t be seen on body cam video. So, the independent investigation concluded that if a miscount happened before, it must have happened a second time.

Afroman says he will file a lawsuit because from the beginning, he feels the overall investigation has damaged his character and ability to book some performances.

“They put out a warrant saying kidnapping on that warrant. That’s a defamation of my character,” Afroman claims. “I need to be compensated for financial damages. My children were traumatized. I don’t think they had to run up and down my driveway with guns.”

FOX19 NOW did reach out to Sheriff Rogers regarding Afroman’s claims and Rogers had no comment.

Afroman adds that laws need to change because what he went through should not be allowed. He added that he will run for president for citing social injustice.

A recount of all monetary evidence was done, which consists of 66 cases. Seven were found to have counting discrepancies, but no more than five dollars at most in one case.

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