Bobby Brown jailed

[Zooropa]

A Massachusetts judge has sentenced entertainer Bobby Brown to jail for failing to pay child support, an official says.

Brown, the husband of singer and actress Whitney Houston, was sentenced to the Norfolk County House of Correction in Dedham, Massachusetts, according to David Falcone, a spokesman for the county sheriff.

"According to the order of the judge, he has to be held until he pays the child support he owes," Falcone said on Wednesday.

Local media reported that Brown wept at his hearing before Judge Paula Carey, who ordered the singer jailed for 90 days or until he can come up with more than $60,000 (33,000 pounds) in child support owed to the mother of two children he fathered.

Brown has a history of run-ins with the law dating back to his youth in Boston. Last month, he was sentenced to jail in Georgia for violating probation in a drunken driving case.

In December, he was charged with battery after a domestic dispute with Houston in which police said she suffered a bruise on her left cheek and other facial injuries.

 

[Rat]

Singer Bobby Brown has been released from jail a day into a 90-day sentence after paying $63,500 (£34,81) in child support he owed to a former partner.
After his release a judge in Massachusetts ordered him to set up an educational trust fund for his two children, aged 12 and 14.

Brown, who is married to Whitney Houston, must also apply for life insurance to benefit his children.

He has been jailed twice this year, the first time for violation of probation.

Brown, 35, had agreed 10 years ago to pay child support and set up a trust for the two children he fathered during his relationship with Kim Ward.

But he did not follow up on the agreement, leading to his conviction for contempt of court.

He was sentenced on Wednesday, just days after he was released two days early from DeKalb County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was serving 60 days for probation violation.

He told the family court that he did not have the money to pay Ms Ward because he no longer had an income.

Future court date

But Judge Paula Carey did not believe his testimony and told him he would spend up to 90-days in jail unless he came up with the money.

He spent one night behind bars before the money was paid to the court.

Brown is still facing a charge of battery after allegedly hitting Houston during an altercation in December 2003.

He is due to face that charge in a Georgia court on 5 May.

Houston, who has one child with Brown, was recently admitted to a drug treatment clinic, but spent only five days there.