Kia Boys YouTube documentary; driver sentenced to 1 year in prison
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man, identified by authorities as one of the people featured in a "Kia Boys" YouTube documentary, has been sentenced to one year in prison.
Markell Hughes, 18, pleaded guilty to driving/operating a vehicle without the owner's consent. As part of a deal with prosecutors, additional charges were dismissed. He was also sentenced to three years of extended supervision.
According to a criminal complaint, police were called to Hawthorn Suites in Oak Creek on May 17, 2022 in regard to a stolen vehicle. The officer spoke with the person who reported the crime. That person had rented a red 2021 Hyundai Elantra with a key-start ignition and Pennsylvania license plate. The person told the officer the car had been stolen "at some point between 6:30 p.m. the night of May 16, 2022, and the morning of May 17, 2022." There was broken glass where the car had been parked.
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Later on May 17, another person reported a stolen 2021 Kia Seltos stolen from the area of 115th and Burleigh in Wauwatosa.
The complaint indicates on May 31, a video was uploaded to YouTube titled, "Kia Boys Documentary (A Story of Teenage Car Theft)." In that video, a red Hyundai Elantra is seen being driven recklessly near 36th and Courtland Avenue. The license plate on the Hyundai matched that of the stolen car in Oak Creek.
Kia Boys YouTube documentary
Still on May 17, police received a call from an unknown caller reporting a "Hyundai driving recklessly at high rates of speed." The complaint states the caller informed police the people with the car were changing a tire behind a Walgreens near 68th and Hampton.
Roughly six minutes later, police received a call about a crash involving a school bus and a Kia Seltos. Video of the crash shows a man arrive at the scene in a red Hyundai Elantra "wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the word 'Glock' written on it in white lettering. This sweatshirt matches the depiction of the sweatshirt of the front passenger in the YouTube video," the complaint states. Again, the Hyundai in this video had the same Pennsylvania license plate.
The Kia Seltos was processed by law enforcement, and several fingerprints were recovered. One of those matched "the left thumb of the defendant, S. Hughes," per the complaint.
Kia Boys YouTube documentary
Hughes arrested on May 30, 2022. On June 8, 2022, a detective reviewed jail calls placed by Hughes on June 6. The complaint states in those calls, he said "I heard my video went viral too. I heard my (expletive) hit 50K in one day." Officials said the video had close to 500,000 views after two weeks.
On June 10, Hughes was interviewed by detectives. Hughes "admitted to being the driver of the car" in the 36th and Courtland incident, saying "he was going too fast." Hughes said "he does not steal cars, but he agreed with (the detective) when the detective said, 'You just drive them.'"
The complaint adds that the defendant's fingerprints have been identified in "six other stolen cars."