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Chong's Pipe Dreams End
Chong's Internet biz just went up in smoke.
Tommy Chong, the actor who toked his way to fame as one half of Cheech & Chong, has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge of peddling drug paraphernalia online.
The actor cum businessman was picked up by the feds at his Gardena, California, home in February for selling marijuana pipes on the Web via his Nice Dreams Enterprises. Authorities confiscated about $120,000 in proceeds from the sales of pipes and glass bongs featuring Chong's spaced-out-looking mug shot endorsement.
The crackdown was part of a national government drug sweep by the government called "Operation Pipe Dreams." Nice Dreams is one of several companies facing the nightmare of illegal drug charges--17 other similar cases are also pending.
Prior to his arrest, Chong's Website claimed all pipes for sale were "for legal blend and tobacco use only." But the actor fessed up to his weedy intentions Tuesday in Pittsburgh's U.S. District Court and pleaded guilty to all charges. As part of the plea agreement, he also admitted to hawking drug paraphernalia during promotional appearances around the country.
Chong could face five years of prison time and a $250,000 fine for his antics, but prosecutors say his punishment will probably be less. A sentencing hearing is set for September 11, and the actor has been released on $20,000 bond.
The feds are calling the ruling a victory in the fight against drugs and hope it serves as a warning to other online dealers who sell drug-promoting items like bongs, crack pipes and roach clips online under the guise of "tobacco-smoking" aids.
"These cases can be brought wherever the Internet is used," assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Brysh said outside the courtroom.
It remains to be seen if possible jail time and fines will work to clean up the stoner rep the 64-year-old actor has cultivated for upwards of three decades. For now, Chong's Website, www.tommychong.com, has been redesigned and now just features photographs and info about upcoming events. And his lawyer said he's hoping to get back in the saddle as quickly as possible. Chong even told reporters outside the courtroom that he has stopped smoking dope.
"He's very anxious to get this matter behind him and get back to his real job, which is making people laugh," Chong's attorney Richard Hirsch told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
In the past, the actor made people laugh with his marijuana-induced antics. His show-biz career started smoking in the 1970s when he and Cheech Marin played tie-dyed stoners in a series of pot-fueled movies, such as Up in Smoke and Nice Dreams, and Grammy-winning comedy albums.
The duo split in 1985. Marin went mainstream (and pot-free) as Don Johnson's clean-cut sidekick in Nash Bridges. Chong continued to bill himself as a hemp advocate and a "born-again doper," most recently playing Hyde's stoner boss on Fox's That '70s Show.
In February, Chong's daughter, actress Rae Dawn Chong, told E! Online that she has penned a script aimed at reuniting her father with Marin in a movie called Cheech & Chong Get Blunt, in which the two would play reformed potheads. No immediate word on how Chong's plea will impact the project's future.
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