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Barenaked Ladies Man Agrees to Rehab, Avoids Jail
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Steven Page has been presented with a get-out-of-jail treatment card.
The Barenaked Ladies front man cut a deal in an upstate New York courtroom Tuesday that will allow him to avoid jail time for drug possession if he seeks treatment and manages to stay clean for six months.
If those conditions are met, all charges will be dropped, said Judge Thomas Morgan in Fayetteville Village Court.
"I'm grateful...for this opportunity to further prove myself as a productive and law-abiding member of society," Page, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession, said in a prepared statement. "I look forward to the next six months as a period of healing and growth."
He continued: "It has meant a great deal for me to be shown the impact I have on others' lives...I am deeply moved and thankful. I also apologize to all those I have hurt and embarrassed during this episode. Respect, responsibility I have earned over the course of my life and my career thus far are important to me, and I am moving forward from this with gratitude and with hope."
Page had been facing up to five and a half year behind bars if convicted.
"Based on each defendant's exemplary behavior and positive attitude from the beginning, I fully expect in six months time this will be over, with each of the defendants ultimately benefiting from this painful experience," Page's attorney, Mark Mahoney, said in a statement.
"Once the charges are finally dismissed, there will be no legal obstacle to Mr. Page entering the United States like any other Canadian citizen."
The same goes for two other defendants in the case, Page's girlfriend, Christine Benedicto, 27, and her roommate, Stephanie Ford, 25,as well.
Page, 38, and Ford were charged in July with felony criminal possession of a controlled substance after police, while checking out a parked car with an open driver's side door, spotted the two sitting in Ford's apartment with a suspicious-looking white capsule in front of them.
Upon further inspection, officers determined the substance to be cocaine and took the pair into custody. Benedicto, who was not present at the time of their arrest, was later charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession.
Ford later admitted to police that she had snorted what she presumed to be cocaine, according to court documents, which also state that Page told them, "Yeah, it's cocaine."
Mahoney said that prosecutors agreed to the deal in part because of Page's lack of a criminal record, and also because lab tests that showed the amount of coke he was found with was lesser in quality and quantity than authorities previously thought.
(Originally published Oct. 28, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. PT)
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