A Maryland rapper with a strong social media following was sentenced to more than two decades in prison for his role in connection with the 2017 robbery of several high school students at gunpoint.

Shiloh Young may not be a chart-topping artist, but the music he's produced under the moniker "Simba" has been good enough to earn him more than 2 million views on YouTube. Unfortunately, the potential available to those who make a passion out of such a hobby wasn't enough to keep the youngster out of the streets, and now it looks like he'll be spending the most promising years of a musician's life behind bars.

Last year, Young and his friend Timario Gregg reportedly rolled up on five students from Watkins Mill High School during lunch and shook them down for their jackets, sneakers and cell phones. Both young men have priors, with Gregg having incurred a possession of a firearm by a minor charge that stemmed from his presence at the scene of a deadly 2016 shooting, and Young awaiting trial for attempted murder and first-degree murder charges he was facing at the time of his arrest.

The Lieutenant of the Montgomery County Police, Jason Cokinos, would highlight Young and Gregg's involvement in gang activity in a statement celebrating the seemingly disproportionate sentences. “The crime rate that this organization, these leaders were overseeing and encouraging, it will definitely put a dent in crime in the Gaithersburg and Montgomery Village area," Lt. Cokinos is reported as having told the press. "People should feel good about the sentences knowing that two violent felons are off the street for a significant period of time.”

Source: fox5dc.com