Boy George is sentenced to 15 months in jail
Published: 1/16/09, 10:25 AM EDT
By JENNIFER QUINN
LONDON (AP) - Singer Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in jail on Friday after being convicted of falsely imprisoning a male escort by handcuffing him to a wall in a London apartment.
British Judge David Radford said the 47-year-old former Culture Club frontman, whose real name is George O'Dowd, was guilty of "gratuitous violence."
O'Dowd's lawyer said his client and the escort had both behaved like "drug-crazed idiots" and that O'Dowd's substance abuse problems were a contributing factor.
In 2006, Boy George - whose pop band's hits included "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" and "Karma Chameleon" - did community service with New York City's Department of Sanitation after he called police with a false report of a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment and officers found cocaine there.
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