Ex-Village People singer sentenced to probation

Popular 1970's group The Village People. File picture

SAN FRANCISCO - A California judge today sentenced singer Victor Willis, who dressed as the policeman in the hit 1970s disco band The Village People, to three years probation on drug and gun possession charges.

Willis, who co-wrote some of the band's biggest hits such as YMCA and In the Navy, pleaded no contest and got a suspended three-year, eight-month prison sentence on condition that he complete a 30-day drug treatment programme at the Betty Ford Centre in Southern California, followed by at least six months in a treatment programme in Long Beach, California.

Willis, 55, was arrested in March near San Francisco on drug and gun charges, the latest in a series of run-ins with the law after he left the band in 1980. He has been undergoing drug abuse treatment in San Mateo County since his arrest.

Mark Geragos, Willis' attorney, told Judge Mark Forcum Willis was making progress in treatment and was serious about making a recovery.

Forcum said Willis "needs to be in a programme that is structured and sound" but warned he would go to prison if he violated his probation.

- REUTERS