The 32-year-old American Idol and Fear Factor star, Antonella Barba pleaded guilty in a Norfolk, VA courtroom for conspiracy to distribute approximately 2 pounds of fentanyl. Currently, she is looking at spending a minimum of 10 years in prison.
On October 11, 2018, Barba was given instructions by a man named Justin Michael Isaac to deliver 830 grams (nearly 2 pounds) of fentanyl to a buyer. Investigators who were already waiting outside of the address at the 5oo block of Duke Street said they spotted Barab alone in her car.
According to a statement from the federal prosecutors “A dog-handler screened Barba’s rental vehicle with a drug dog, which alerted on the vehicle. The canine officer searched Barba’s rental vehicle and discovered a closed shoebox in plain view on the front passenger floorboard.”
The statement continued, “The officer opened the shoebox and discovered a plastic bag containing a large quantity of a white, rock-like substance. The substance seized from Barba’s rental car was submitted to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Savannah Laboratory for forensic analysis.”
Barba’s recent arrest is not the first time she has been in legal trouble. She faced a marijuana felony in Kansas and was charged with two misdemeanors for shoplifting in New York on December 2010. Other controversies surrounding Barba include topless pictures of her on the internet as well as a picture of her in a wet t-shirt posing in front of the War World II Memorial in Washington D.C. in 2007.
Although her appearance on American Idol was years before her first run-in with the law, Barba has still been in the lime-light despite various charges. Only two years after she faced marijuana charges in 2012, she was a contestant on Fear Factor. In 2018, she appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live as part of a segment entitled “Where Are They Now.”
Although Barba’s plea of guilty included a mandatory 10-year sentence, she could face up to life in prison along with a $10 million fine. The amount of fentanyl that she possessed was enough to kill over 400,000 people. Justin Michael Isaac waits for his trial next month in which he will also plead guilty.
