More than two years after the incident itself, CeeLo Green has pled no contest to sharing ecstasy with a woman who accused him of slipping the drug into her drink. CeeLo was originally accused of drugging the woman, apparently a girlfriend of several months at the time, without her knowledge or consent at a bar in downtown L.A in July of 2012.
The Goodie Mob singer’s no contest plea will reportedly allow Green “to maintain his innocence” according to TMZbut the charge, less severe than the D.A.’s original filing for charges of furnishing the Schedule 1 substance, will still equate to a felony. As a result, CeeLo has been placed on three years of formal probation by a Superior Court Judge and will be required to perform 360 hours of community service and attend more than 50 drug and alcohol counseling sessions with a private therapist. Green will be allowed to travel for work throughout his time on probation.
The Associated Press reports that CeeLo’s no contest plea bars the charges from being used against him in civil court but if charged with another criminal drug offense may be revisited. In October of last year a rape charge in the same case was rejected by prosecutors after Green’s lawyer claimed the artist “had consensual sex with the woman he gave ecstasy to.”
CeeLo’s community service work will take place at the MusiCares Foundation, an organization connected to the Grammy Awards. The timing of the charges coincides with Green’s departure from The Voice though he recently claimed the amount of work was the reason behind his leaving. “It easily and quickly became a job,” he said in an interview with UsWeekly. “Very, very obligating… Taxing and tiring… I still tip my hat to Adam [Levine] and Blake [Shelton] and those guys who continuously do it, but I think I ran my course there just naturally.”
AD LOADING...
