The self-proclaimed “King Thief of Atlanta” has pleaded guilty to stealing from Queen B.
Kelvin Evans was found guilty and given a five-year sentence by a Georgia court on Tuesday for stealing hard drives containing unreleased Beyoncé music, among other items. He will serve two years in custody, followed by three years of probation.
In September, Evans, 41, referred to himself as the “King Thief of Atlanta” during police interviews, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. He was arrested by the Atlanta Police Department in connection with a July 2025 car robbery involving Beyoncé’s choreographer, Christopher Grant, and dancer, Diandre Blue.
The incident took place just two days before Beyoncé, 44, began her four-show run at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium as part of her record-breaking Cowboy Carter Tour.
During the plea hearing, prosecutors described a surveillance video they said showed the defendant pulling his car into a parking garage beside a 2024 Jeep Wagoneer, which had been rented by Grant, 37. The video, according to prosecutors, showed Evans peering into the rental jeep before taking out two black suitcases and then later carrying them into an apartment building “connected to his sister,” according to the Guardian.
The two suitcases contained hard drives that held “watermarked music, some unreleased music, footage plans for the show, and past and future set lists,” according to a police report, as well as two laptops, designer sunglasses, clothing, and AirPods.
The Atlanta Police Department tracked Evans via the laptops, which they told the court they traced to multiple locations associated with Evans before the signals disappeared.
The stolen suitcases, however, were “never seen again,” according to the prosecution.
Before entering his plea, Evans reportedly hesitated when asked if he was pleading guilty because he was “in fact guilty.”
“I’m not going to say I’m in fact guilty,” he said before his plea.
Evans was revealed in court to have an extensive wrap sheet of “entering-auto convictions” dating back two decades. He previously pleaded not guilty and rejected a five-year custody plea deal in April, according to Rolling Stone.
Beyoncé, whose full name is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, capped off her tour just two weeks after the Atlanta stopover with two dates in Las Vegas. Despite touring in just nine cities, the music megastar garnered over $400 million in revenue.
Beyoncé, already the most Grammy-awarded musician in history, took home three more Grammys for Cowboy Carter from eleven nominations, including Album of the Year. She became the first Black woman to win Best Country Album in 2025.
