A last-minute legal resolution has brought a high-profile music theft case to a close, as an Atlanta man convicted of stealing unreleased recordings belonging to global music superstar Beyoncé was sentenced to two years in prison following a guilty plea entered Tuesday.
Kelvin Evans pleaded guilty to several charges stemming from the theft, according to Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA-TV. The case drew widespread attention after surveillance footage captured Evans breaking into a sport utility vehicle in Atlanta just two days before Beyoncé’s scheduled stop on her “Cowboy Carter” tour in the summer of 2025. The vehicle, a rented Jeep, belonged to a member of Beyoncé’s production team and contained a flash drive loaded with unreleased music. The “Cowboy Carter” tour, supporting Beyoncé’s acclaimed 2024 country-influenced studio album of the same name, was one of the most anticipated concert events of the year. The theft raised significant concerns within the music industry about the security of proprietary creative content during large-scale touring productions.
Evans had initially entered a plea of not guilty and rejected an earlier plea offer presented in March 2026. Prosecutors noted that Evans is also implicated in additional vehicle break-ins unrelated to the Beyoncé case, suggesting a broader pattern of criminal conduct. He faced a potential sentence of six years in prison before the plea agreement reduced that exposure to two years.
The resolution spares both parties the uncertainty and expense of a trial. The whereabouts of the stolen flash drive and whether any unreleased material was disseminated remain subjects of ongoing concern for Beyoncé’s camp, as no public confirmation has been made that all stolen recordings have been recovered.
