Owen Hinton Scandal

The Owen Hinton Scandal is the most notorious event in YRN - YGN history, and was known for being the event that lead to the downfall of the Graham Administration over YRN, along with the eventual dissolving of the YRN itself, and the domino effect that lead to the formation of YGN as an independent successor to the YRN.
This event has been the subject of thousands of conspiracies, rumors, theories, gossip and other urban legends, many revolving on if Drip had raped Owen Hinton, a minor, if Owen was setting up Drip (and/or Squadz), either to support Laven or for his own amusement, if Drip and YRN were child-traffickers, if the YRN and Graham Administration were going to bomb an apartment complex, and potentially kill hundreds, and many, many others.
To this day, the Owen scandal is widely acknowledged and referenced, due to its extreme damage and the severity of the situation, along with its direct downfall of YGN Dripmasterz, and the chain reaction that caused YRN to collapse eventually.
== Background ==
Owen Hinton was a longtime friend of the YRN up until this day. He had been an online friend, in contrast with the typical eligibility for a YRN to join, as the label up until the Graham Administration was inaugurated, was only exclusive to North Carolina natives and local membership. 
He was the "adopted" son of his close friend, Matt Scott 'YGN Dripmasterz' and Kaige Yoder 'YGN Kaigez', a teenage couple who were not too much older than Owen, but still treated him as a son. Matthew had recently been released from jail, on March 14, 2021, having been incarcerated since November 30, 2020, 20 days after a drive-by shooting that lead to the deaths of his lover, Brandi Fox 'Lil Foxy' and close friend, Joshua Griener 'Young Vibez', and was taken in as a suspect, accused of ordering the hit.
Matthew had been born and raised in North Carolina, but had been staying in Tennessee with his mother since July/August 2020, and was to relocate home to NC, after his adopted father 'Frosty' worked to prove his innocence, which cleared him for release months later. It should be noted, Frosty worked for the State of North Carolina in unspecified security and prosecution methods.
==== Return to NC (March 14, 2021) ====
Drip was picked up by YGN Squadz and his grandmother on March 14, 2021, having travelled to Tennessee a day before, and collected him from the Hamilton County Jail. Oddly, it was never discussed why he was in a Tennessee jail, for a crime committed in North Carolina, although it's commonly believed evidence was still gathering whilst the extradition process was forming.
Here, he made plans to reform his lifestyle, and make change after losing several months of his life to false accusations, and stayed at the Oyo Hotel South at 2444 Maple Ave, Burlington, NC 27215 and later the Knight's Inn at 2155 Hanford Rd, Burlington. Here, he began working at Permatech/Vesuvius in Graham, having been landed the job by his father, Frosty, and planned to work here until he and his childhood friend and godbrother Nicholas King (YGN Squadz) could get an apartment at the Lofts at White Furniture, where Kaige and Squadz would move in, and later he was intending to pick up Owen, and bring him to live with them, as Owen had frequently discussed the topic of running away from home, and wanted to kill himself due to alleged abuse he suffered at home.
The plan was set back, after Drip walked off the job during his first day during break, and never returned, then abandoned the deal his father made (as Frosty wanted Drip to pay off the debt he owed him to clear the evidence and get him out and provide him with protection after the murders) by running away from NC and going back to Tennessee to live with his mother, not wanting to have to put in effort to live.
Although this set back the plan, he persuaded his father to give him another chance, because he had something much better planned, which would've made the "betrayal" justified and understood. He bought a red, 2001 Ford Focus (compact) which would be his new means of transportation, and would assist him and Squadz' plan to settle their lives and future for their rap careers; Squadz wanted his own apartment, for him and a future girlfriend to move into, and set a base of operations for recording and mixing, to improve YRN, as it was still strong by this point, while Dripz wanted to have a place to move in with Kaige, and raise their "adopted son" Owen together, benefitting them all, and would've left them roommates.
Initially, Laven Wise (Bleak) was concepted for another roommate, and would've been collected after Owen, though he would betray the YRN on April 15, 2021, during a point Dripz was working at a boat manufacturing plant, in order to save money for the trip and costs, and Squadz was doing volunteer work at the Allied Churches Homeless Shelter, where he would concept new ideas for the trip, initially a train from Burlington, NC to Michigan, then to Sedro-Wooley and back to NC with a sleeper-car was one of the ideas he concepted during this period. Dripz was raising the money, as Squadz was unable to find full-time employment due to his busy schedule with school and was more of the tactical and ideal one, while Dripz was resourceful, although it should be noted Dripz was the mastermind of the job.
After Laven's betrayal, there was a massive war with YRN v. PTO after Laven persuaded PTO with false insider information, hoping to get the YRN label eliminated by the PTO, a neo-Nazi group, though this didn't go as he planned, but this did downgrade the support YRN would be able to provide to Dripz and Squadz during their job, much to their dismay. Also, Laven's betrayal did provide relief for the two in a way, and did not set back their plan in the slightest, in fact, boosted the plan as now, neither had to worry about the extended trip to Washington state to get Laven, and provide for him as yet another roommate.
==== Trip is Confirmed for May 2021 ====
After Drip had gotten the Ford Focus, he was arrested for misdemeanor speeding, driving unlicensed and uninsured, which took him out of action for a few days, and he was arrested for public endangerment, having gone around 90 in a 45 zone. Then, Laven had gotten him arrested, for accusing him of dating an underage girl, Kaige, although Drip was released after two days, when it was discovered the "underage girl" in question was actually of the age-of-consent for North Carolina - Tennessee, as Dripz was still staying in Tennessee at the time, but planned to relocate after getting Owen, and thus he broke no laws.
This would now lead to his decision to head out to NC to pick Squadz up on May 8, 2021, and intended to go get Owen in Michigan with a straight-shot drive. However, Dripz would manage to convince his roommate, Payton Robertson (Paytrain) to come along, and Paytrain agreed to head out to NC, and they left sometime around 7:25 PM on May 7, 2021.
Meanwhile, prior to the events with Drip and Paytrain, Squadz was riding with his grandma to go see his cousin, Dylan, as he was having a bonfire. After arriving, Squadz, Dylan and SwinkBeatz would drive around Mebane, around the time Drip and Paytrain left for NC.
==== May 8, 2021 ====
Squadz asserted that whilst Drip and Paytrain were arriving, he'd made sure to stay up extra late, and was playing Sims 3 throughout, where he played a YRN roleplay save file, something he'd found interesting and stated Sims was the perfect game for him to kill time with, and he'd stayed up until 2:56 AM, when Dripz stated he and Paytrain were gonna check into a hotel, so Squadz immediately went to sleep after, and woke up around 9:13 AM to text the group chat, asking if Dripz was up, and got a response at 9:45 AM from Drip stating "I am so far". 
Squadz misunderstood the statement, thinking Dripz was actually stating he was so far away, rather than "I'm awake, so far." and demanded to know where Drip was, thinking he was lost, or still in Greensboro. Around 10:09 AM, Dripz and Paytrain, who had checked into the Oyo Hotel South, left to go pick up Squadz outside the Pines Apartments in Graham, and arrived sometime shortly after. Then, they went to Walmart, collected some supplies for the road trip, and hung out and explored numerous abandoned places, including the Tarheel Missile Plant, the Holt-Tabardrey Plant, Culp Weaving Mill and Bellmont Cotton Mill, before heading to Lewisville, listening to music and enjoying themselves.
It was around 10, that the car "stopped" and needed to be filled with antifreeze. During this process, Squadz and Paytrain decided to get out, walk around and check out the wildlife, and Drip said he'd call them when he's fixed the car. After not hearing from him for a lengthy period of time, having hiked through the forests, Paytrain called Drip, pissed off at his lack of communication. Drip had mentioned he was infront of a cop, which prompted Squadz to warn him to be careful, as Squadz thought Drip was driving to them, but a police car was behind him, and not to get caught, as not only did Drip have no license, but there were also weapons, marijuana and alcohol in the vehicle.
However, after hearing a policeman's voice, both Squadz and Paytrain panicked, and ran over to Drip as fast as they could, as police already knew Drip had two friends with him, so were expecting them. After arriving, they were questioned, due to their all black uniforms, in the middle of the night, in an upper class neighborhood, which didn't set right initially, though due to the fact no crimes were committed, they were not arrested nor detained. Drip had been driven from his car to the road where the two were travelling down, in the back of a police car (not in handcuffs) prior to the questioning.
He'd been patted down, and both Squadz and Paytrain had been too, and were also sat inside the police car, all three sitting the same car's backseat. They were then released, and Squadz decided to stay at home and was returned, while Drip and Paytrain had agreed to come back after Mother's Day to get Owen.
== Kidnapping (May 19 - 21) ==
=== Final Draft ===
In later May, shortly after the 8th, the plan was being developed by both Dripz, Squadz and Paytrain to ride out to go get Owen 'Bombz' together, and then to ride into NC with him in a straight shot, and the trio were to stay with Squadz' family at a new house they were expecting around the month of the disaster. The three (Dripz, Paytrain and Bombz) were going to work for Squadz/Frosty, performing jobs that would "boost" the YRN, in exchange for their residence, until an apartment was purchased, where Dripz and Kaigez would move to, whilst also raising Bombz as if he were their own son. Paytrain also intended for his girlfriend, Haley, to move in and help with rent, and Squadz would've remained single and searching, whilst still operating the YRN from the comforts of his home, with Ghost still in power as the leader reporting under Squadz' coordination.
This meant, a three bedroom apartment was concepted, with Kaige x Drip (BR 1), Paytrain and Haley (BR 2) and Squadz (BR3) would pan out, with Bombz given a couch, and on the 9th, Paytrain and Dripz planned out the trip and routes, while Squadz made reservations about the apartment, and calculated income whilst searching for careers that all of the parties (minus Owen) could work at to fulfill the rent. Kaigez was passed along, due to her still being in high-school.
Unfortunately, both Dripz and Paytrain began having mutual disagreements, evolving into full-on feuds and this lead to Paytrain blocking Dripz and Kaigez, unfollowing Bombz, but still showing devotion to Frosty and Squadz. Paytrain never truly made up with Drip, and this lead to the mild setback, but little revamping and was proceeded as planned, with a date scheduled for May 19, 2021 to head out to get Owen, with both Dripz and his mother, Cathy, as Squadz would become occupied last minute with moving, and also (supposedly) providing scouting support for Dripz' journey via drone, to ensure Dripz would not be stopped by a sudden license checkpoint.
It should be noted, neither Sinnerz, Kaigez, KGlockz, Aide4Raidz, Knucklz or any other affiliates/members were approached for involvement; the mentioned because Kaigez and Knucklz were both occupied at the time, Sinnerz and KGlockz because they were needed to maintain the balance at home whilst their bosses were occupied, Raidz out of personal ambiguity, and the others because nobody else was permitted to work with Squadz and Dripmasterz in their backdoor businesses. (also, Squadz didn't want to rope anyone else into Dripz' dangerous and high-risk stunt)
=== Dripz' Perspective (The Job) ===
On May 19, 2021, Drip and his mother would set out, around 12:15 PM. Around 12:44, they stopped, as Drip had to let the engine cool off, due to his car being old and requiring maintenance due to its age. During this point, he would frequently speak to Bombz and Squadz, and was reportedly "angry" at some points, demanding they stop "blowing up his phone" due to the constant texts in the group chat.
They consistently changed drive, with Drip getting information from Owen along the way. Unfortunately, Owen had previously been skipping school, getting "cocky" that he would be leaving soon, so he wasn't afraid of trouble. Unfortunately, this would come back as a negative consequence, as Owen would get grounded after his mother found out he'd been ditching school, and confiscated his Xbox, and even more unfortunately, his phone. This meant all communications with Owen were lost at 5:30 PM, and it was now going to be extremely difficult to find him, if he wasn't at home.
Owen had made multiple backup plans; one, to contact his friend Ashton and use a phone. Others involved more complex plans, such as calling from a phone at a store, or for Drip to pick him up at an abandoned WWII bunker near the Kincheloe Air Base. Around 11 PM. Drip would check into the Rodeway Inn at 1888 Broad Ave in Ohio; the last communication between Owen and Dripz at this point was when Drip was in Ohio. 
Drip and his mother called Squadz, who was still checked into an undisclosed compound owned by Frosty, where he supposedly was coordinating the trip, and verified Drip was safe. Dripz recalled Squadz was noticeably hostile with several security hired by Frosty, though maintained a civil conversation with his childhood friend, and Drip went to sleep before 12, and Squadz stayed up the entire night. 
Early in the morning of May 20th, Dripz would begin to set out with his mother, after eating breakfast at the nearby Culver's, would eventually make it into Kincheloe, but was unable to find Owen, and called Squadz to figure out where to find him. Initially, they were redirected to find the bunker by Squadz' orders, but refused after somehow assuming it was accessible through Canada. Then, it became complicated after Dripz contacted Owen's brother, Ryan hoping to figure out where Owen was, and initially visited Owen's home to no avail. He returned shortly after hanging up on Squadz, and would call his superior, with Owen on the other line, informing him he was picked up by Dripz and his mama, and was leaving. 
After arriving, Dripz supposedly had knocked on the door, and Owen answered, and went to collect his stuff, which had already been packed. and brought his backpack, loaded into the back of Dripz' Ford Focus, and the trio left the home, as Owen's mother was not at home, at the time. They would ride out for about an hour, before stopping at a gas-station; Dripz was the only driver at this point, while Cathy (his mother) and Owen would consistently switch seats, and Dripz would ask Owen if he's sure he wants to leave, and he affirmed this with a "yes", backing it up that he hated his living conditions, his mother was abusive, and he wanted out of Michigan for good, and wanted to have a live with the YRN. 
By 8:34 PM, on May 20, 2021, it was already affirmed 
Dripz arrived home around 1