Atlanta man pleads guilty to stealing Beyoncé's unreleased music

• A man accused of stealing Beyoncé's personal items, including unreleased music, has pleaded guilty.
• Kelvin Evans was sentenced to five years with two years to be served in prison.
• The theft occurred in July 2025 from a rental car in an Atlanta parking garage.
• Stolen items included hard drives with unreleased music, show footage, and personal belongings of Beyoncé's team.

The man accused of stealing Beyoncé's personal belongings, including hard drives containing unreleased music, will no longer stand trial and will instead serve time in prison after pleading guilty to the charges associated with the incident in 2025.

Kelvin Evans pleaded guilty in Fulton County Superior Court on Tuesday to entering an automobile and criminal trespass. He was sentenced to five years, two years to serve in prison and the remainder on probation. As part of the plea deal, he has been ordered to stay away from the victims and the parking garage where the theft took place.

Evans was initially scheduled to go to trial on May 11, 2026, after pleading not guilty. According to CBS News, Evans was offered a plea deal in April that included five years in prison on the felony charge of entering a motor vehicle with intent to commit theft along with 12 months for the misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge to be served concurrently. Evans rejected the offer.

In September of last year, the Atlanta Police Department confirmed Evans was arrested and taken into custody by Hapeville police officers on Aug. 26, 2025. He was booked into the Fulton County jail. During that time, the stolen items were recovered. USA TODAY reached out to Beyoncé's team for comment but did not receive a response.

On Jan. 7, Evans appeared in court in Atlanta, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of entering an automobile with the intent to commit theft and criminal trespass.

The incident took place in July 2025, during Beyoncé's Atlanta stop along her Cowboy Carter and Rodeo Chitlin' Circuit Tour. The singer performed a total of four shows at Mercedes-Benz Stadium from July 10 through July 14.

Two days before kicking off her first show, Beyoncé's choreographer and one of her dancers reported to police that several sensitive items were stolen from their rental car.In the initial police report obtained by USA TODAY on July 14, 2025, Christopher Grant and Diandre Blue told Atlanta police that their black rental Jeep Wagoneer was in a parking deck around 8:09 p.m. When they returned, they discovered the trunk window had been damaged and someone had stolen two of their suitcases.

"Mr. Grant also advised he was carrying some personal sensitive information for musician Beyoncé," an officer noted in the police report. "He advised he was her choreographer and Mr. Diandre Blue was a dancer for her and that her hard drives for her upcoming show in Atlanta were stolen also."

Grant and Blue also reported that clothes, designer sunglasses, laptops and a pair of AirPods Max headphones were taken from the vehicle in the July incident.

"The hard drives contained watermarked music, some unreleased music, footage plans for the show and past and future set lists," police added. Almost a year later, the criminal case has been resolved.

Follow Caché McClay, the USA TODAY Network's Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @cachemcclay.