FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2010, file photo, Antonella Barba arrives to the 10th Anniversary of TAO restaurant in New York. A recently unsealed court document says the former contestant on both “American Idol” and “Fear Factor” worked as a courier for a drug ring and was trying to deliver nearly 2 pounds (830 grams) of fentanyl when she was arrested last year. The Virginian-Pilot reports Barba was back in custody Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, following a federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Barba was originally arrested last October in Norfolk. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)
NORFOLK, Va. | A former “American Idol” and “Fear Factor” contestant who was arrested last year in Virginia with nearly 2 pounds of fentanyl will be allowed to live with her parents in New Jersey while awaiting trial.
FILE – In this Oct. 16, 2010, file photo, Antonella Barba arrives to the 10th Anniversary of TAO restaurant in New York. A recently unsealed court document says the former contestant on both “American Idol” and “Fear Factor” worked as a courier for a drug ring and was trying to deliver nearly 2 pounds (830 grams) of fentanyl when she was arrested last year. The Virginian-Pilot reports Barba was back in custody Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, following a federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Barba was originally arrested last October in Norfolk. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File) FILE – In this Oct. 16, 2010, file photo, Antonella Barba arrives to the 10th Anniversary of TAO restaurant in New York. A recently unsealed court document says the former contestant on both “American Idol” and “Fear Factor” worked as a courier for a drug ring and was trying to deliver nearly 2 pounds (830 grams) of fentanyl when she was arrested last year. The Virginian-Pilot reports Barba was back in custody Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, following a federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Barba was originally arrested last October in Norfolk. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)
The Virginian-Pilot reports 32-year-old Antonella Barba will be released Thursday after she’s fitted with a monitor to ensure she follows curfew.
Barba was indicted this month on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Prosecutors say she was a courier for a drug ring.
She was previously charged with shoplifting in New York and has a felony marijuana case pending in Kansas.
Barba reached the top 16 on “American Idol” in 2007, the year Jordin Sparks won. She competed on “Fear Factor” in 2012.
Her attorney, James Broccoletti, declined comment to the newspaper.
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