Contrary to what we previously decided, T.O.K.E. will list the newest P.O.W. here!
A Bad Trip for Tommy Chong: 9 Mos. in Jail
Thu September 11, 2003 03:34 PM ET
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Actor Tommy Chong of the spaced-out, dope-smoking comedy duo "Cheech & Chong" was sentenced to nine months in prison and fined $20,000 on Thursday for distributing marijuana pipes over the Internet.
The 65-year-old Canadian-born entertainer, wearing a dark business suit and shoulder-length hair, asked U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab for a sentence of community service, saying in a statement read by his lawyer that he was not the perpetually stoned loser he portrays in Hollywood films.
"I have a drug problem with marijuana," Chong told the court later, saying he had overcome dependency through constructive hobbies including learning to dance the salsa.
But the judge ruled that jail time was appropriate for a felony charge of conspiring to distribute drug paraphernalia, which Chong pleaded guilty to last May. Chong will also receive drug treatment behind bars and spend a year on probation.
Federal sentencing guidelines called for a prison term of six to nine months and a fine of up to $250,000.
Chong, who has no criminal record, is best known as the bearded and bespectacled member of "Cheech & Chong," who along with partner Cheech Marin became synonymous with the drug humor of the 1970s through comedy skits such as "Dave's Not Here" and movies like "Up In Smoke."
First gaining national notoriety in 1970, the then-youthful pair made a series of comedy albums that won them a Grammy award and launched their subsequent Hollywood movie careers.
Actor Tommy Chong Going To Federal Prison
Actor-Comedian Convicted Of Selling Drug Paraphernalia
POSTED: 1:12 p.m. EDT September 11, 2003
UPDATED: 4:39 p.m. EDT September 11, 2003
Actor Tommy Chong -- part of the famed Cheech and Chong comedy team -- was sentenced in Pittsburgh Thursday to nine months in federal prison and fined $20,000 for selling bongs and other drug paraphernalia over the Internet.
Tommy ChongChong, 65, will be told in a few weeks where he'll have to report to prison.
Chong -- who starred with comedy partner Cheech Marin in the marijuana-themed cult film classics "Up in Smoke" and "Still Smokin'" -- pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia and pleaded guilty on behalf of his company, Nice Dreams Enterprises.
The company will learn of its sentence later Thursday.
There's no word on how this will affect Chong's reunion with Marin. The two reportedly have been writing a script for a movie.
Chong also appeared on the television show "That '70s Show" from 1999 through 2002. According to the Internet Movie Database, he is currently in production with several family members on the film "Best Buds."
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press
Tommy Chong's hopes may be up in smoke
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Actor Tommy Chong's own words outside the federal courthouse after he pleaded guilty in May to distributing drug paraphernalia online might hurt him tomorrow when a judge imposes a sentence that could put him in prison for a year and cost him $250,000.
That's the stiffest sentence U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab could hand down, and he's indicated he may do just that, in part because of what he called Chong's lack of respect for the law.
Chong, a 65-year-old father of five who has made a career of playing marijuana-addled morons on the big screen, was as subdued and contrite when he entered his plea May 13.
But outside the courthouse he laughed and told the media he might put the case in his next movie.
That was apparently a mistake, not only because it showed lack of remorse but because one of the determinations Schwab must make is how much of a fine Chong will have to pay.
Sentencing guidelines call for a range of $2,000 to $20,000, but the judge indicated he may depart from those numbers and boost the fine to $250,000 because of the possibility that Chong will exploit the case to make money.
Schwab also said in court papers that Chong hadn't provided the government with all of his financial records and could be trying to misrepresent how much he's earned over the years from selling paraphernalia.
Chong's net worth is $2.8 million, so prosecutors said he can easily afford to pay the maximum fine.
"The defendant has become wealthy throughout his entertainment career by glamorizing the illegal distribution and use of marijuana," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary McKeen Houghton. "Feature films that he made with his longtime partner, Cheech Marin, such as 'Up in Smoke,' trivialize law enforcement efforts to combat marijuana trafficking and use."
The judge will also have to weigh Chong's attitude. In addition to his courthouse comments, he made light of the situation in an online chat sponsored by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in April, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
When asked, "What do you feel about the feds cracking down on glass pipes and bongs?" he replied, "I feel pretty bad, but it seems to be the only weapons of mass destruction they've found this year."
Despite the jokes, however, two of Chong's Hollywood pals have written letters to the judge saying he takes his case "very seriously" and describing him as a wonderful family man and professional.
"I would ask that your honor allow Tommy to pay his debt by contributing to the community," wrote his agent, Matthew Blake of The Gersh Agency in California.
"He has fans all over the world that would respond to his message that you can get higher on life without using drugs. He is the perfect spokesperson to deliver this message."
Chong and his lawyers had asked Schwab to postpone the sentencing so they could explore alternative sentences like community service, but the judge said no.
He will sentence Chong to six months to a year in prison, a halfway house, home detention, probation or some combination of those.
Chong has admitted to distributing bongs and marijuana pipes on the Internet through his family company, Nice Dreams Enterprises, which is named for one of his movies.
He also entered a guilty plea for the company, which does business as Chong Glass in Gardena, Calif.
The case against him was part of Operation Pipe Dreams, a national crackdown on drug paraphernalia that began in Pittsburgh during the prosecution of Akhil Kumar Mishra and his wife, Rajeshwari, who ran two head shops Downtown in the 1990s.
After an investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mishras were convicted in federal court here in 2000 of conspiracy and selling illegal drug paraphernalia.
Using information from that case, federal agents started pursuing distributors and wholesalers across the United States. Chong's enterprise was one of them.
Operation Pipe Dreams culminated in February with the arrest of some 55 people and the shutdown of head shops and distributors across the country. Chong wasn't arrested at the time, but the family business, which employs several glass blowers, was among those raided.
Agents also searched his house in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and seized business records and cash.
Since his plea, Chong has been free on bond and traveling around the country performing his comedy act.
