Feds charge Oakland rapper with felony gun case, detain him without bail

OAKLAND — Federal prosecutors have filed felony gun charges against a Bay Area rapper who was arrested twice last year, in San Ramon and Oakland, on suspicion of possessing firearms.

Masia Hollins, 22, who raps under the stage name Dooder, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, a federal offense that carries up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He is being held in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail, and is next due in court for an arraignment on Jan. 12, records show.

Hollins was charged in connection with two incidents, one at a a San Ramon apartment last July, and the other involving an Oakland police chase in October, according to the complaint. In the first incident, San Ramon police pulled over Hollins and his girlfriend after the license plate on a Mercedes Benz the woman had just parked indicated the car had been in a recent police chase, authorities say.

The complaint alleges that Hollins lied about his name and age, claiming to be his girlfriend’s 17-year-old brother, and that they refused to consent to a search of the Mercedes. An officer eventually tricked Hollins’ girlfriend into changing her mind, when she allowed him to grab the apartment keys from the vehicle in order to allow the couple’s pet dog into the home. The officer found a loaded pistol within reach of where Hollins had been sitting, and his DNA was later allegedly found on the gun.

Three months later, on Oct. 5, Hollins was arrested in the same Mercedes after a police chase that ended in the Acorn Town Center in West Oakland, where Hollins was arrested. Police claim he was seen throwing a gun out of the car, and that he admitted it was possible his DNA would be found on it.

In a motion to keep Hollins detained pending trial, prosecutors describe him as a violent member of a gang based in the Acorn housing development and describe his nickname, Dooder, not as his musical stage name but his “gang moniker.” They included a photograph of a jeweled chain he possessed in the October incident, with the letters “KCSC” — an acronym for Kane City Stain City — and Hollins’ stage name, to argue that he was representing his gang’s “home turf” at the time of his arrest.

Hollins has prior felony convictions, including one for accessory in 2021, a case where his co-defendant was sentenced to five years in state prison for assault with a firearm. Both men were originally charged in 2020 with attempted murder, court records show.

“He has an extensive juvenile and adult record of violence, including three felony convictions in the past three years and arrests for attempted murder, carjacking, and robbery,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Leif Dautch wrote in the motion. “As evidenced by this history, and his possession of two loaded firearms and his flight/deceit in each incident, Hollins poses an unmitigable danger to the public and risk of flight.”