Brown Jailed Again, Whitney Splits Rehab Facility...

[Associated Press Report]

Brown Jailed Again, Whitney Splits Rehab Facility

A family court judge in Canton, Mass., yesterday (March 24) ordered R&B singer Bobby Brown jailed for 90 days or until he pays $63,500 in child support he owes the mother of two children he fathered. Brown, released from a Georgia jail early so he could attend the contempt hearing, cried as he was led from the courtroom. He was to be jailed in the Norfolk County House of Correction.

Judge Paula Carey issued the ruling after Brown, the husband of singer Whitney Houston, testified that he was unable to pay support he owes for children, now 12 and 14, that he fathered with Kim Ward, of Stoughton.

Brown, a Roxbury native, was released Monday, three days early, from the Georgia jail where he had been serving a 60-day sentence on a probation violation stemming from a drunk driving charge.

He also is charged with misdemeanor battery after he allegedly hit Houston, leaving her with a bruised cheek and a cut lip. He is scheduled to appear May 5 in a Fulton County, Ga., court on that charge.

Carey said the financial statement the troubled former pop star provided the court "lacks all credibility," and declined his lawyers' offers to pay $10,000 by yesterday, an additional $15,000 within 10 days and negotiate the rest.

Brown, who was more than four hours late for the hearing, testified in a hushed voice, telling the judge that he was unable to pay because he had no job and no income. "I never wanted this to happen," he said.

His attorney, Vincent Dimmock, said although Brown had been a successful pop singer in the 1980s and early 1990s, he has "been nowhere near that in recent years."

Brown said he planned to have an album out within 30 days and begin production of movie in Los Angeles. But after the judge was told Brown had not received an advance for the album, Carey said, "I don't find it credible that no money has been advanced at all."

Meanwhile, the New York Daily News reports that Houston has left a drug rehabilitation facility, five days after checking in. But Houston's spokesperson says the artist is in another location but is still taking part in the rehab program.

Edited By Jonathan Cohen. March 25, 2004, 10:30 AM ET

NEWSFILE: 25 MARCH 2004