Antonella Barba, a former American Idol Season 6 contestant in 2007, is facing a minimum of 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court — as part of a plea agreement — to possession of drugs with the intent to distribute.
Barba pleaded guilty in federal court in Virginia on Tuesday to possession of drugs and admitted that in October 2018 she tried to deliver two pounds of fentanyl to a local drug dealer in Norfolk, Virginia.
Barba, a native of Jersey, living in Los Angeles, was arrested last October after being found in possession of fentanyl by police detectives investigating a drug ring in the Norfolk area.
According to court documents, Barba was allegedly working as a courier for the drug ring in Norfolk when she was arrested at about 11:30 a.m. on October 11, 2018, in a parked car in the 500 block of Duke Street, Norfolk, near an apartment belonging to an alleged local drug dealer.
People reports that she was sitting in the parked rental car when detectives acting on a tip approached her and conducted a search using dogs. The found a plastic bag containing a white substance that was later determined through forensic analysis to be 830.9 g of fentanyl.
According to federal prosecutors, Barba, 32, who is also a former Fear Factor contestant, is facing a minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life in prison, and $10 million in fines and asset forfeiture at her sentencing hearing scheduled for late November.
Barba was one of the Season 6 contestants on American Idol during the show’s run on Fox in 2007. She reached the top 16 before being eliminated in the Season that Jordin Sparks emerged as the winner.
Barba also appeared on Fear Factor in 2012.
Following her appearance on American Idol she went on to earn a degree in architecture and shared with Entertainment Weekly in 2009 that she was working on an album. She also appeared as Jessica in the 2017 film All About the Money (2017).