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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Pleaded Guilty to Felony Heroin Possession in South Dakota (1983 Charge)

Kennedy was arrested on the order of the Pennington County State's Attorney after heroin was found in his bags in Rapid City. The charge was a felony. Kennedy pleaded guilty, according to The New York Times, and PBS Frontline reported that community service was part of the plea deal.

Record summary

Grade

Outside the grading scale: Pre-Office Conduct

International crime

Pre-office conduct — outside the official-power scale

Conduct from before office: Donald Trump’s before the June 2015 campaign launch, and an administration official’s before their first appointment or between terms. Scale and definitions

Status
Concluded
Legal status
Pleaded guilty
Before Office
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (all before-office records)
Incident date
Record updated
Location
Rapid City, SD
Category
Rule of Law
Legal posture
Documented
Verification
Cross-referenced
Sources
4 cited
Stable ID
rfk-jr-heroin-possession-charge-1983
Posture note
Felony heroin-possession charge in Pennington County, South Dakota (1983), resolved by a guilty plea (The New York Times; PBS Frontline). Sentence: two years' probation and community service (NYT); UPI (1989) reported a suspended sentence and two years' probation. The plea date is not given in the sources fetched for this entry.
Alleged responsible parties
  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Private individual

Key points

  • TIME reported that Pennington County State's Attorney Rod Lefholz ordered Kennedy's arrest for possession of heroin after police found slightly less than one gram in his bags
  • The offence was a felony punishable by up to two years' imprisonment and a $2,000 fine
  • UPI reported that on September 16, 1983, Kennedy was charged with heroin possession in Rapid City, entered a drug treatment programme, and received a suspended sentence and two years' probation
  • The New York Times reported that Kennedy pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possessing heroin and was sentenced to two years' probation and community service; PBS Frontline reported that community service was part of the plea deal

What happened

In September 1983 police in Rapid City, South Dakota, found slightly less than one gram of heroin in the luggage of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then 29. TIME reported that Pennington County State's Attorney Rod Lefholz ordered his arrest for possession of heroin, a felony then punishable by up to two years' imprisonment and a $2,000 fine.

  • Proceeding: felony charge of heroin possession, Pennington County, South Dakota. UPI dates the charge to September 16, 1983.
  • Outcome: Kennedy pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possessing heroin and was sentenced to two years' probation and community service, The New York Times reported in 2024; PBS Frontline reported that community service was "part of the plea deal." UPI reported in 1989 that he entered a drug treatment programme and "received a suspended sentence and two years probation." The sources fetched for this entry do not give the date of the plea.

Sources

  • "Crash Landing For Bobby," TIME, September 26, 1983.
  • Barbara Goldberg, "Now it's ADA John F. Kennedy Jr.," United Press International, August 20, 1989 (a report on John F. Kennedy Jr. that recounts his cousin Robert Jr.'s 1983 case).
  • "The Rise of RFK Jr.," PBS Frontline (documentary transcript).
  • Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Susanne Craig and Rebecca Davis O'Brien, "Kennedy's inheritance: How addiction and trauma shaped a turbulent life," The New York Times (republished by Boston.com), November 29, 2024.

Update log

  1. Added for the Before Office record. Kennedy first joined the administration on February 13, 2025.

Sources

  1. Crash Landing For Bobby — TIME
  2. Now it's ADA John F. Kennedy Jr. — United Press International
  3. The Rise of RFK Jr. — PBS Frontline
  4. Kennedy's inheritance: How addiction and trauma shaped a turbulent life — The New York Times (via Boston.com)

How this record was published

Manually curated This entry was added directly and does not carry an automated audit trail.

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