A US federal judge revoked rapper T.I.’s probation on Friday and ordered him back to prison for 11 months, according to a spokesman for the US attorney’s office.
The Atlanta native, whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr, was in federal court following his arrest last month in Los Angeles on suspicion of drug possession. He was on probation after serving 10 months behind bars on federal weapons charges.
During the hearing, T.I. begged US District Judge Charles Pannell Jr not to send him back to prison, saying he needed to get help for drug addiction. He told the judge he “screwed up” and pleaded for mercy.
Photo: REUTERS
“I want drugs out of my life. If I can get the treatment and counseling I need ... I can beat this,” T.I. told the judge, according to US attorney spokesman Patrick Crosby. “I need help. For me, my mother, my kids, I need the court to give me mercy.”
No such luck.
The Grammy Award-winning artist walked out of court with family and friends, and Crosby said he will be allowed to voluntarily surrender.
As a condition of T.I.’s release earlier this year, he was ordered not to commit another federal, state or local crime while on supervised release, or to illegally possess a controlled substance.
He was also told to take at least three drug tests after his release and to participate in a drug and alcohol treatment program.
Before heading to prison, T.I. spent dozens of hours of community service talking with inner-city children and juvenile offenders about the dangers of drugs and guns.
“While he was telling kids to obey the law, he was breaking it,” US Attorney Sally Quillian Yates told the judge on Friday, according to Crosby. “There has to be a significant consequence for undermining the [plea] agreement.”
Yates urged the judge to consider a sentence of two years in prison. She said T.I. submitted diluted urine samples and told his probation officer he had used ecstasy at least three times since leaving prison.
“He was supposed to be living what he was preaching,” she said, according to Crosby.
While T.I. is headed for the prison ward, singer Alicia Keys recently emerged from a different kind of ward. She and her husband, music producer and rapper Swizz Beatz are new parents to a baby boy.
A representative for Keys said she gave birth on Thursday night in New York. The couple have named their son Egypt Dean. It’s the first child for the 29-year-old superstar and the fourth child for Beatz, whose real name is Kaseem Dean. The couple was married on July 31.
Swizz Beatz, 31, took time to tweet on Friday: “I’m so thankful for everything I been blessed with in
my life.”
Singer Mary J. Blige also tweeted her congratulations.
Life isn’t so dreamy for Christina Aguilera, who filed for divorce from her husband of five years on Thursday, two days after announcing the couple had separated.
The Beautiful singer cited irreconcilable differences with her husband, music executive Jordan Bratman.
Court documents show the couple has a prenuptial agreement, although Aguilera is seeking a judge’s ruling awarding her rights to all her earnings.
Aguilera, 29, is seeking joint custody of the couple’s 2-year-old son. She announced on Tuesday that she and Bratman had separated and that the couple’s commitment to their son “remains as strong as ever.”
The pair married in November 2005 and separated on Sept. 11, the court filing states.
Actor Corey Feldman, who starred in his first film two years before Keys and Aguilera were even born, has returned to The Lost Boys franchise for a third film and says fans also will feel the presence of the late Corey Haim, his co-star in the first film.
Lost Boys: The Thirst has been released straight to DVD and Blu-ray and is now in stores.
The original film, released in 1987, starred Haim, Feldman and Jason Patric. Its premise about teens who take on a gang of vampires in their town was a box office smash.
It made teens stars out of Haim and Feldman, whom fans dubbed “The Coreys.” Feldman reprises his role as Edgar Frog in the latest installment and serves as executive producer. Haim died last March at age 38 of natural causes.
Feldman says even though Haim isn’t in The Thirst, his presence can still be felt, which is “the way it should be.” — AGENCIES
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